Michael Gropman

The article on the retirement deficit is interesting and thought provoking. My wife and I both work for the Federal Government which has a definded benefit plan and a TSP which is similar to a 401K plan. My wife and I will be fine when we retire.The rest of the employees who don't have pension plans or 401K plans could have problems when they retire.There are many opinions about Social Security some say they are major problems with it, and some say there are some minor problems and they could be fixed. I believe what needs to be done is to go back to the defined benefit plans. Have pensions index to inflation and make sure that companies are fully funding their retirement plans and not using the PBGC to get arround the pension laws.  Our public schools should make it mandatory that our high school students take a basic finance class that will teach them about how Social Security and Medicare works and how much they can be expected to receive when they reach Social Security Age. One example on Social Security could be if you start at making $30,000 at age 22 with a 3% pay raise, how much will you get when you reach social securiy age. The next plan should be on how the stock market works and how much they will need in retirement if they do not belong to a defined benefit plan. The ones in high school should know is the life insurance plans out there like term insurance and whole life.Public schools must teach the role of organized labor, I am a member of a labor union my self. I feel that too many people are taking for granted the role of organized labor. This is just a start and I hope it solves are retirement  crisis.