Statement by Thomas Bartell 

Chairman of Americans for Secure Retirement 

Testimony Submitted to: 

U. S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and 

the Department of the Treasury 

Statement 

Americans for Secure Retirement is pleased to submit this formal testimony to the 

U. S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) 

and the Department of the Treasury as they seek to gather additional information 

on specific issues relating to lifetime income and other arrangements that provide 

a stream of income after retirement. 

We commend the Obama Administration and the Departments of Treasury and 

Labor (the “Agencies”) for their continued attention to the promotion of guaranteed 

lifetime income for Americans. Given the increasingly difficult retirement challenge 

facing Americans, we strongly support encouraging and providing incentives for 

Americans to secure a steady stream of guaranteed income in retirement. 

Americans for Secure Retirement (“ASR”) is a broad-based coalition of more than 

70 member and affiliate organizations committed to raising awareness of the 

increasing challenges Americans face in having a financially secure retirement. In 

particular, ASR often focuses on those Americans with little or no access to 

employer sponsored plans. Our coalition includes organizations that advocate for 

Hispanics, women, small business, farmers and others, all united in an effort to 

ensure that all Americans have access to guaranteed streams of retirement 

income that cannot be outlived. 

As the Agencies originally noted in the RFI issued in April, the United States is 

facing a looming retirement crisis. People are living longer, and traditional sources 

of guaranteed retirement income, like pensions and Social Security, cover less 

and less of what they need in retirement. At the same time, fewer Americans 

workers have access to any kind of employer-sponsored retirement plan. For 

those whose employers do offer a retirement plan, defined contribution plans, 

such as 401(k)s, have become far more common than defined benefit plans. 

Making matters worse, the recent stock market declines have driven the average 

balances in 401(k) plans down to about $60,000. In fact, workers aged 45-54 who 

have been making contributions to a 401(k) plan for at least 20 years saw the 

value of their retirement fund decrease by nearly 30 percent in 2008.1

 

1

 Employee Benefit Research Institute, 401(k) Balances and Changes Due to Market Volatility – 

Data. January 20, 2009, 

(http://www.ebri.org/pdf/jan%2020,%202009%20update%20full%20universe.pdf) 

American Agriculture Movement 

American Agri-Women 

American Corn Growers 

Association 

American Council of Life Insurers 

American Homeowners Grassroots 

Alliance 

American Small Business Coalition 

Association for Advanced Life 

Underwriting 

Black Women Enterprises 

Business and Professional 

Women/USA 

Citizens Against Government 

Waste 

Committee of Annuity Insurers 

Federation of Southern 

Cooperatives 

Financial Services Roundtable 

Hispanic Alliance for Progress 

Institute (HAPI) 

Hispanic Business Roundtable 

Hispanics Impacting Public Policy 

Intertribal Agriculture Council 

The Latino Coalition 

National Association for Female 

Executives 

National Association for Variable 

Annuities 

National Association of Farmer 

Elected Committees 

National Association of 

Hispanic/Latino Farmers and 

Ranchers 

National Association of 

Independent Life Brokerage 

Agencies 

National Association of Insurance 

and Financial Advisors 

National Association of Small 

Disadvantaged Businesses 

National Caucus and Center 

on Black Aged 

National Community Pharmacists 

Association 

National Consumers League 

National Taxpayers Union 

Oklahoma Farmers Union 

Small Business and 

Entrepreneurship Council 

Soybean Producers of America 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

Women Entrepreneurs, Inc. 

Women Impacting Public Policy 

Women in Need Industries 

Women’s Institute for a Secure 

Retirement 

Women Involved in Farm 

Economics 
As a result, the opportunity for many Americans to enjoy a financially successful retirement 

increasingly depends on their ability to manage their retirement savings in such a way that 

they can achieve a steady stream of income for 20 to 30 years of retirement. 

This is a very steep mountain to climb, especially for middle income Americans. A study 

recently commissioned by ASR and prepared by Ernst & Young found that three out of five 

Americans entering retirement at age 65 can expect to outlive their financial assets. To 

avoid outliving their savings, the report indicated that Americans retiring today with no 

guaranteed source of income beyond Social Security will have to reduce their standard of 

living by an average of 32 percent. Americans who are seven years away from retirement 

will most likely have to reduce their standard of living by an average of 45 percent. This 

study also found that those with guaranteed retirement income beyond Social Security, 

such as lifetime annuities, are much better prepared for retirement than those without. 2 

Similarly, a recent Gallup Poll found that annuity owners felt much more secure and 

prepared for their retirement because of the stream of income received from this retirement 

vehicle. 3

 

The challenge is even greater for particular segments of the American population, 

including women, Hispanic Americans, small business owners and those who work in the 

agricultural sector. In general, these groups lack access to traditional employer-sponsored 

retirement plans. They may also be affected by unique factors that limit their opportunities 

to build up and manage their retirement assets, including income disparities, unpredictable 

income based on commodity prices, limited access to traditional savings vehicles and, for 

women, longer life expectancy. Consider the following: 

Women. Women face unique retirement challenges over their male counterparts. 

On average, women have fewer full-time working years than men and have 

median annual earnings that are about $10,000 less than those of working men. 

Women typically live longer than men and are likely to spend some of their 

retirement years alone due to widowhood or divorce. These disparities lead to 

lower savings and retirement income and smaller payouts from Social Security, 

ultimately resulting in a greater risk of poverty in retirement.4

Hispanic Americans. While Hispanics work in all sectors of the economy, they 

are more heavily concentrated in jobs that lack traditional retirement options and 

typically earn a lower income, affecting their ability to save for retirement. For 

example, a recent study conducted by The Hispanic Institute and ASR reported 

that only 25.6 percent of Hispanics are covered by pension plans, compared to 

42.5 percent of whites and 40 percent of African-Americans. Recent trends 

indicate that Hispanics have actually become less prepared for retirement over 

the past few years.5

 

 

2

 Americans for Secure Retirement: Updated Retirement Vulnerability Analysis: The likelihood of 

outliving their financial assets, by Ernst & Young LLP, June 2009; 

(http://paycheckforlife.org/userfiles/file/Updated%20Retirement%20Vulnerability%20Analysis_2009

_FINAL.pdf ) 

3

 The Committee of Annuity Insurers, 2009 Survey of Owners of Non-Qualified Annuity Contracts; by 

The Gallup Organization and Matthew Greenwald and Associates; (http://annuityinsurers.org/pdfs/09.17.09.atta.Final2009GallupSurvey.pdf) 

4

 Americans For Secure Retirement: The Female Factor, 2008; by Cindy Hounsell, WISER 

(Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement); (http://paycheckforlife.org/uploads/ASRwhite_paper_FINAL.pdf) 

5

 Hispanics And Retirement: By The Hispanic Institute, For Americans For Secure Retirement 

2009, (http://paycheckforlife.org/uploads/white-paper-hispanics-and-retirement-english.pdf) 
Small Business. Small business owners face unique challenges that put them at 

risk of falling short in retirement. Many small business owners reinvest significant 

portions of their income into their businesses, and therefore cannot afford the cost 

of establishing and maintaining traditional defined benefit or defined contribution 

plans for themselves and their employees. These entrepreneurs often expect to 

use the proceeds from the future the sale of their business to finance their 

retirement. 

Rural and Farming Communities. America’s rural and farming communities are 

influenced by factors that make obtaining a secure retirement uniquely difficult. 

Farmers are less likely to be covered by traditional pensions, forcing them to rely 

on Social Security at a much greater rate than those in other sectors at a time 

when Social Security on average only covers two-thirds of retirement needs. In 

addition, there is extreme variability in farm income due to largely uncontrollable 

fluctuations in commodity prices, weather, and macroeconomic policies making it 

more difficult for farmers to adequately plan and save for retirement. 6

To address these challenges, Americans for Secure Retirement strongly supports 

providing incentives that make secure retirement vehicles such as annuities more 

accessible and affordable. Guaranteed lifetime income through annuitization provides 

Americans with a stream of income through retirement - a “paycheck for life” – to ensure 

that they will not outlive their savings. To that end, we urge the Agencies to develop rules 

that will remove obstacles and provide incentives to encourage employers to provide their 

employees with the option to annuitize all or a portion of their defined contribution 

retirement accounts, and to encourage employees to take advantage of such options. 

In addition, the Agencies should consider further study and information gathering, in a 

manner similar to today’s hearing, to explore was to provide similar incentives for the large 

number of Americans whose retirement savings are held outside of employer plans, such 

as in individual retirement accounts and annuities. The need for guaranteed lifetime 

income vehicles to help manage retirement savings is not limited to participants in 

employer based retirement programs. Americans for Secure Retirement stands ready to 

assist the Agencies in developing or refining rulemaking proposals. 

 

6

 Lifetime Income Crucial to Farmer’s Retirement Security,” American Corn Growers Association 

and Americans for Secure Retirement, 

(http://paycheckforlife.org/uploads/Ag_Issue_Brief_FINAL.PDF)