Last month, the Wall Street Journal’s Letters to the Editor was on the topic of retirement.
The letter was titled: “We’ll All Rethink Our Retirement One Way or Another”.
Among several scholars, industry experts and other opinionated people with well articulated arguments, I submitted a proposal, which was published in the Wall Street Journal on March 17. Below is my submission, which argues that with added flexibility to Social Security, we could in turn save billions of dollars in the process.
Along with greater work flexibility, America needs to offer retirees greater flexibility for their Social Security benefit choices by allowing Social Security beneficiaries to delay starting benefits beyond age 70, and to gradually opt into Social Security benefits as part of a “staged” retirement.
In the process, according to my analysis, $200 billion to $400 billion in Social Security outlays could be saved over the next 20 years.
The pitfalls of our Social Security system don’t have to be as dire as they’ve been constructed. A little flexibility can go a long way.