Savings are vital to everyone's retirement: a report from the 1998 SAVER Summit.

• Author: Savitsky, Linda

When 200 delegates arrived in Washington, D.C., during the first week of June for the three-day national summit on retirement savings, called SAVER Summit, expectations were high that retirement and pension-related issues would advance to the forefront of the nation's public policy agenda. A primary concern driving the agenda was the fact that "baby boomers" are fast approaching their retirement years, and indications are that not enough of them have adequate savings invested towards their retirements. Secondly, recent studies have shown that approximately 25 million Americans working for small employers are not covered by any retirement plan. And finally, governmental projections show that the Social Security Trust Fund will become insolvent by the year 2032.

In the aftermath of this first summit, questions are being asked about its outcome. Have retirement issues, indeed, moved to the forefront of the national policy agenda? Will there be a defined set of recommendations and/or remedies put forth at some point in the near future to address the problems associated with retirement saving? And what about that 800-pound gorilla of American public policy - Social Security - and its looming funding crisis? What steps are being contemplated to secure its future?

This article looks at the results and suggestions that came out of the summit. It also reviews some recent statements and actions put forth by administration and congressional leaders exploring whether a plan of action is being formulated and if any momentum is being gathered for specific action on pension and retirement issues.

The Summit's Conception

In 1997, Congress passed, and the President signed into law the Savings Are Vital to Everyone's Retirement (SAVER) Act (PL. 105-92). The nucleus of this law was a mandate calling for White House SAVER Summits to be held in the years 1998, 2001, and 2005.

According to the legislation, these summits are charged with finding ways of increasing public awareness about the importance of retirement savings; identifying barriers that exist to prevent or discourage the advancement of retirement savings programs in the workplace; and seeking out remedies to remove those obstacles. In addition, delegates would be charged with finding ways to facilitate a private-public partnership to promote private pensions and individual retirement savings. In all, 200 delegates would be appointed to serve at each of these summits: 100 appointed by the President...