Retirement Issues, Benefits and Developments

Strengthening the U.S. retirement system to be more accessible and financially sound is important to ensuring that all Americans can retire with dignity and security, and to managing the fiscal exposures to the federal government from various retirement-related programs. Currently, the U.S. retirement system, and many of the workers and retirees it was designed to help, face major challenges. Chapter 1 discusses (1) the fiscal risks and other challenges facing the U.S. retirement system, and (2) the need to re-evaluate our nation's approach to financing retirement. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss the Social Security full retirement age. Chapter 4 provides information on the benefits and disadvantages of alternate price indexes for measuring the cost of living for older Americans. Chapter 5 examines (1) how much in retirement savings is transferred to states as unclaimed property and what happens to those savings once transferred and (2) the steps IRS and DOL have taken to oversee these transfers and what improvements are needed. Chapter 6 discusses the availability of enhanced retirement benefits for federal law enforcement officers (LEOs). Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), an independent federal agency, which administers retirement, survivor, disability, unemployment, and sickness insurance for railroad workers and their families. Chapters 9 and 10 provide information on the military retirement system.