Retirement’s Perfect Storm As the Boomers approach retirement they are confronted with three major obstacles: The Great Recession, the collapse of global capital markets, and entitlement debt that is not only unaffordable, but unfathomable. The recession and its high unemployment have caused many seniors to lose their jobs. From their point of view, they’re too young to quit working, but they may be too old to be re-employed. This dilemma has caused many of them to retire earlier than planned.
To compound this, the Social Security and Medicare programs that they are relying on face their own perfect storm. Lower birth rates and higher life expectancy have changed the future of these programs immeasurably. In 1950 there were 16 workers paying into Social Security for each retiree receiving benefits. Today, there are only 3.3. And that number will shrink further, putting an enormous strain on these systems. Over the long run the unfunded liability of these two programs is $106 trillion or about $905,000 for each American household. That is the tax required to be paid today, plus payroll taxes into the future, to put these two programs on a secure financial footing. It’s not going to happen. What do we do?
Social Security Reform: The World's Greatest Social and Financial Challenge There are two global forces on a collision course. How, when or if these forces collide will impact economies around the world. Hanging in the balance are living standards, international strategic relationships and our very way of life. No one will escape, everyone will be affected. And, presently, most people are totally unaware. • The first force is the aging of society. This is not the fact that each of us is getting older; it is rather the reality that the population of elderly people is increasing more rapidly than the population as a whole. And many countries are not only aging at warp speed, their populations are shrinking. • The second force is the government systems that provide for the elderly, mainly Social Security, are not viable. As presently structured, they will collapse. How nations choose to address these realties will be the greatest social and financial challenge the world will face over the next 25 years. The risks are high, there is much to lose, but the opportunities from thoughtful reform are unprecedented.
In-Depth Perspective on Social Security Issues Drawing on his extensive experience, Bill Shipman addresses Social Security issues from many different perspectives, delving deep into the concerns that affect you most. Speech topics for you to select from include: • Social Security Reform: An Unprecedented Global Challenge • Social Security Reform In The United States: The Continuing Debate • Financing Social Security: The Stark Reality • You and Social Security Reform: No One Will Escape
In addition, Bill Shipman addresses a number of global economic and free enterprise issues including: • What To Do With $225 Billion Per Year • How Wealth Produces Poverty And What to Do About It • Why Europe Is Becoming Less Important To The United States • Retirement Finance Reform: A Global Awakening • Solving The Global Public Pension Crisis: The Privatization Revolution
About William Shipman
William G. Shipman is Chairman of CarriageOaks Partners LLC a Massachusetts-based consulting firm specializing in retirement finance. An advocate of Social Security reform in the United States, Mr. Shipman has testified before the House Ways and Means Sub-Committee on Social Security and co-authored Promises to Keep: Saving Social Security’s Dream. He is Co-Chairman of the Cato Project on Social Security Choice, and was on the National Advisory Board of “Americans Discuss Social Security,” a non-profit organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to generate informed debate on the issue. He also served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Social Security. His research has been published by the Financial Analysts Journal, The Journal of Investing, the National Center for Policy Analysis, The Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, as well as numerous other publications, and was named one of its outstanding papers by The Journal of Investing.
Mr. Shipman has discussed and debated public policy issues before the United Nations and both the Joint Economic Committee and House Budget Committee Task Force on Social Security of the United States Congress, as well as the Australian Parliament. He has given well over 300 speeches across six continents and twenty-one countries and has consulted on retirement finance reform with government officials from Australia, China, Poland, the United States and Russia as well as the European Commission. He recently was invited by the government of the Russian Federation to be a member of its Supervisory Council for the Institute for Social Insurance Development. And the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China has invited him to be a visiting professor at the Ministry’s Social Insurance Institute. The government of China has also published Promises to Keep in Chinese.
Prior to establishing CarriageOaks, Mr. Shipman spent more than 30 years in institutional financial research, consulting and investment management. He was a principal of State Street Global Advisors, a Trustee of the SSgA Funds, a founding partner of H. C. Wainwright Co., Economics, and a general partner of H.C. Wainwright & Co. He serves on the Board of Directors of The Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, Washington, DC. Mr. Shipman received his degree in psychology from Syracuse University. A pilot and student of the martial arts, Shipman holds a 3rd Degree Black Belt in Kempo Karate.
William Shipman
