{"id":56182,"date":"2025-05-03T17:36:04","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T17:36:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=56182"},"modified":"2025-05-03T17:36:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T17:36:06","slug":"trumps-first-100-days-spark-retirement-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=56182","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s First 100 Days Spark Retirement Anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>At 100-day mark of Donald Trump\u2019s second term, retirement security \u2014 already precarious for millions of Americans \u2014 is taking another serious blow. If you feel more anxious about your future today than you did three months ago, you\u2019re not imagining it. Fear is rising, and it&#8217;s not misplaced.<\/p>\n<p>From eroding confidence in Social Security, to increasing financial market instability, to threatening the caregiving system that supports older Americans, Trump\u2019s early moves are accelerating a long-running retirement crisis. And if left unaddressed, the effects could last for decades.<\/p>\n<h2>Fear Is Causing People to Claim Social Security Early \u2014 and That\u2019s a Big Problem<\/h2>\n<p>One of the most alarming signs of Trump\u2019s impact is that more Americans are claiming Social Security early \u2014 locking in lower monthly benefits for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n<p>Anne Tergeson at the Wall Street Journal reports an uptick in claiming by 80,ooo people compared to last year. Someone told New School researchers that fear about Social Security\u2019s future is driving people to make financially damaging decisions. One participant captured the mood perfectly:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All my friends told me to take [Social Security] early before they take it away from me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is a deeply rational fear. Trump\u2019s tariff plans and tax cuts for the wealthy are shrinking the government\u2019s revenue base, making attacks on Social Security more politically feasible. At the same time, reductions in Social Security services \u2014 field office closures, cutbacks in customer assistance \u2014 are silently cutting benefits, too, by making it harder for people to access what they\u2019ve earned. Nerd wallet reports 34% of retirees are anxious about how tariffs will affect their investments, which is a high number considering most people don\u2019t even have investments!<\/p>\n<p>Fear feeds early claiming. Early claiming locks in lower benefits. Lower benefits guarantee higher poverty among retirees. It\u2019s a vicious cycle, and it\u2019s gaining momentum.<\/p>\n<h2>Financial Volatility Is Undermining Already Fragile Retirement Futures<\/h2>\n<p>Trump\u2019s early-term economic policies are also increasing financial market volatility \u2014 and that spells trouble for anyone relying on 401(k)-style retirement savings.<\/p>\n<p>About half of Americans aged 50\u201365 \u2014 roughly 30 million people \u2014 have significant money invested in the stock market. Many are watching their accounts swing up and down with every new tariff announcement, interest rate shock, or banking crisis rumor.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the defined benefit (DB) pensions that once anchored retirement security with guaranteed monthly checks, today\u2019s 401(k)s leave individuals exposed to the full force of market ups and downs. Even if you do everything right \u2014 save, invest, rebalance \u2014 you could still retire just after a market crash and face a dramatically lower standard of living for life.<\/p>\n<p>We tested the idea that voluntary, individualized retirement saving would work. After 40 years, the verdict is in:<\/p>\n<p>It doesn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>Today, nearly 50% of older workers have no retirement savings beyond Social Security. And among middle-class older workers, 40% are projected to slip into or near poverty in retirement.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cEdge\u201d age-group \u2014 Americans between 50 and 65 \u2014 is rightly anxious. They are tracking every news alert, every market dip, because their future depends on it.<\/p>\n<h2>Attacks on Immigrants Could Gut the Care Economy<\/h2>\n<p>Beyond savings and Social Security, another retirement threat looms: the caregiving workforce is under siege.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown directly threatens the supply of workers who provide critical long-term care for older Americans. In New York City, 60% of home health aides are immigrants. In Florida, it\u2019s 60%; in New Jersey, 54%.<\/p>\n<p>Caregivers are key to aging with dignity. Without paid care many people live with unmet needs, especially men, according to researcher Jessica Forden. And without enough aides, costs skyrocket, care quality falls, and more seniors are forced into unsafe or isolated living conditions. Family members \u2014 often adult daughters \u2014 end up picking up the burden, sacrificing their own careers and savings.<\/p>\n<p>Retirement security isn\u2019t just about dollars in an account. It\u2019s about ensuring that when Americans reach old age, they can live with dignity, support, and respect. Gutting the caregiving workforce undermines that promise for everyone.<\/p>\n<h2>Retirement Security Was Once an American Success Story<\/h2>\n<p>We shouldn\u2019t accept this deterioration as inevitable. America once led the world in building retirement security. In the decades after World War II, strong unions, progressive legislation, and widespread pension coverage made it possible for ordinary workers \u2014 not just the wealthy \u2014 to retire in dignity. Social Security was expanded. Medicare was created. Defined benefit pensions were widespread.<\/p>\n<p>But starting in the 1980s, a political shift \u2014 symbolized by President Reagan\u2019s firing of striking air traffic controllers \u2014 began to erode these gains. Employers started replacing pensions with 401(k) plans. Individual risk replaced collective security. Inequality began to widen.<\/p>\n<p>By the 2000s, the damage was clear: Bush\u2019s failed attempt to privatize Social Security normalized the idea that retirement was a &#8220;do-it-yourself&#8221; project, even as wages stagnated and the cost of living soared.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the United States ranks poorly among developed nations for elder poverty. According to the OECD: Only 3% of Dutch elders live in poverty. 12% of Canadian elders do.<\/p>\n<p>In the U.S.? 23%.<\/p>\n<h2>What Must Be Done \u2014 and Can Be Done<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s not too late to reverse course. But doing so will require bold action \u2014 and a rejection of the failed policies that got us here.<\/p>\n<p>1. Expand Social Security, Not Cut It.<\/p>\n<p>Social Security is our most successful anti-poverty program. Expanding benefits and lifting the payroll tax cap can ensure solvency and increase protections for millions of retirees.<\/p>\n<p>2. Pass the Retirement Savings for All Americans Act (RSAA).<\/p>\n<p>The RSAA would create universal, portable retirement accounts for workers without employer-sponsored plans \u2014 modeled on the highly successful Thrift Savings Plan used by federal employees. RAND Corporation simulations suggest the RSAA would be cost-neutral after 20\u201330 years and could help 63 million Americans build retirement security right now.<\/p>\n<p>3. Rebalance Retirement Tax Expenditures.<\/p>\n<p>Over $300 billion a year in tax subsidies flow to retirement accounts \u2014 but disproportionately to high earners. Redirecting these subsidies could make a huge difference for ordinary workers trying to save.<\/p>\n<p>4. Treat Caregiving and Retirement as Public Goods.<\/p>\n<p>America must recognize that caregiving \u2014 much like education and infrastructure \u2014 is essential for a healthy society. Immigration policies must support, not sabotage, the caregiving workforce.<\/p>\n<h2>Fear Is Not a Retirement Strategy<\/h2>\n<p>The fear Trump has reignited in his first 100 days is real. But fear is not a strategy. Action is.<\/p>\n<p>The good news? Americans have rebuilt before. Social Security itself was born in an era of economic fear and uncertainty. We can do it again because the choice is political. We can endure a future of widening elder poverty and economic instability or we can get back on track to secure a dignified retirement for all workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/teresaghilarducci\/2025\/05\/02\/trumps-first-100-days-spark-retirement-anxiety\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At 100-day mark of Donald Trump\u2019s second term, retirement security \u2014 already precarious for millions of Americans \u2014 is taking another serious blow. If you feel more anxious about your future today than you did three months ago, you\u2019re not imagining it. Fear is rising, and it&#8217;s not misplaced. From eroding confidence in Social Security, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-56182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-finance"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump\u2019s First 100 Days Spark Retirement Anxiety | Prosfunds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"At 100-day mark of Donald Trump\u2019s second term, retirement security \u2014 already precarious for millions of Americans \u2014 is taking another serious blow. 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