By Suzanne Woolley
(Bloomberg) --This is Fast & Furious 8:
And this is Fast & Furious 9:
Tackle Obamacare. Get the wall going. Curb immigration. Hire an attorney general. Fire an attorney general. Attack al Qaeda. Replace Scalia.
In fact, the new U.S. president’s pen, and thumbs, have been so busy they’ve actually beaten the movie, which isn’t out until April.
Lost in the flurry of activity is the pressing question of how to deal with the American retirement crisis. The median working-age family had $5,000 saved for retirement in 2013, according to an Economic Policy Institute analysis of Federal Reserve data. Nearly half of working-age families had no retirement savings at all, the analysis showed.
The Godzilla of all retirement issues is how to shore up the finances of Social Security. During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump's stated goal was "to keep the promises made to America through our Social Security program." He made that statement when the AARP asked him and Hillary Clinton to write up their plans for the program.
It included a hedge. "If we are able to sustain growth rates [in gross domestic product, the nation's economic output] that we had as a result of the Kennedy and Reagan tax reforms, we will be able to secure Social Security for the future," it said. "As our demography changes, a prudent administration would begin to examine what changes might be necessary for future generations."
Today, after a long campaign and as the post-election stock market rally starts to fade, that critical piece of our retirement plans has gone largely unaddressed. But the societal challenge goes beyond maintaining the program's solvency. Social Security simply doesn't provide enough income for people without defined benefit pensions and 401(k)s who can't afford to save, or to save more.
Women are especially vulnerable. Almost half of unmarried elderly women getting Social Security benefits in 2013 counted on them for 90 percent or more of their income, according to the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, an advocacy group. That is a dangerous dependency.
Few would say they have a clear read on President Trump’s plans for these massive programs. (A White House representative said she would look into the matter.) But while people don’t know what to expect, they do anticipate change of some kind. Fifty-seven percent of Americans think their strategy for retirement savings income will be affected by the Trump administration, a new survey by brokerage firm Edward Jones shows.
The survey of 1,105 people, done between Jan. 19 and 22, found that more women than men expect the impact to be negative, at 29 percent to 25 percent. Of men, 38 percent said they don’t expect any impact at all, while the figure was 32 percent for women.
At the same time, 42 percent of those with investments think the new administration will improve their portfolio this year. That includes 52 percent of baby boomers, 48 percent of Gen X-ers, and 39 percent of millennials.
So far, they're right. From Nov. 10 to Jan. 25, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was up 6 percent. (Extend that window to Feb. 1, though, and the market is up 5.2 percent.)
Some 27 percent of the people in the Edward Jones survey think the new administration will hurt their portfolio in 2017. More men than women anticipate a positive impact, or no impact, in the short term.
One hint of what may be in store came on Jan. 24, when the president’s nominee for director of the Office of Management and Budget, Representative Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), spoke in his confirmation hearings about the rising costs of Social Security and Medicare. Mulvaney said he was in favor of raising the retirement age for Social Security to 70 (from 67, for those born after 1959) and against cutting benefits for current recipients.
Meanwhile, try to save more if you can. Go over the fees you're paying on your investments, for example, with an eye to lower-cost options that may have become available in your 401(k). In chaotic times, focusing on what you can control will pay off, not least in some peace of mind.
To contact the author of this story: Suzanne Woolley in New York at [email protected] To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Jeffrey at [email protected]