Trostel cited in Mainebiz article on employers preparing workers for retirement
Philip Trostel, an economics professor at the University of Maine, was quoted in the Mainebiz article, “Top Maine employers take initiative in helping employees prepare for retirement.” “People who are age 50 or 55 now have saved much less for retirement than [people in their 50s] were saving 15 or 20 years ago, which is pretty troubling,” Trostel said. In a 2017 report for AARP Maine, he wrote, “Asset accumulation for retirement has dramatically fallen, despite the fact that we’re seeing increasing prosperity.” There’s a rule of thumb that says workers should put away 10 percent of earnings, according to the article. “It’s simple math,” Trostel said. “You have, say, a 40-year work career and expect a 20-year retirement. If you’re saving 10 percent over 40 years, with compound interest, then you’re going to be able to largely keep your same standard of living. And you can keep that same standard of living particularly if you have Social Security income as well.” Overall, the saving rate has dipped, the article states. “You see more reliance on debt than before,” he said. “Some of it has been a cultural change: People haven’t been as worried about savings as they used to be.”