Pension

A financially secure and healthy retirement is our ninth and final gateway to a life of opportunity. A secure and healthy retirement should be the reward for a life of hard work and contribution to family and community.

Articles: Pregnant moms quit smoking, Better medical care prevents pregnancy-related deaths, The 65 Percent Solution, CCHE requests $8.7 million in need-based aid, Increase in state funding for colleges, Low-income adults get smaller share of job training benefits, Insurance companies shed high-risk customers, Race and income affect health care, Colorado economy to add jobs, Indexing minimum wage to inflation, Companies freeze pensions

Articles: Treating Mom???s mental health helps the kids, Early childhood education good for economic development, Colorado Preschool Program ranks in the middle of the pack, Well-being improves for kids , Study shows binge drinking rising among girls, Literacy gaps persist through college, Low- and middle-income families use credit cards as a safety net, CBPP: Making federal tax cuts permanent will benefit the rich, What???s behind the trend in pension freezes?, Incentives promote savings . . .

Articles: Coming next week: Bell Policy Center???s Blueprint for Opportunity, Colorado children without private insurance are more likely to die after hospitalization, Effectiveness of No Child Left Behind act difficult to determine, Teen obesity depends on neighborhood support. . .

Colorado's political, business and community leaders should encourage employers to use automatic enrollment for 401(k) pension plans. We should also educate workers about the value of participating in these plans and of increasing contributions over time to meet retirement needs. Automatic enrollment is allowed under federal law, and pension reform legislation passed by Congress in August provides additional incentives to do so.

A Boulder Daily Camera commentary outlining the problems with the country's main mechanisms for saving for retirement - Social Security, company pensions and personal savings accounts - and proposing some solutions to improve the system.

A Boulder Daily Camera commentary refuting President Bush's assertion that Social Security is on the brink of bankruptcy.

This bill proposes to create a [name of State] retirement savings program to promote expanded pension and retirement security for the citizens of [name of State] and assist them to achieve economic independence by making it easier for working families to save and for smaller employers to sponsor plans for their employees.

The legislature should create Colorado Voluntary Pension Accounts to provide access to retirement plans for all Coloradans. These plans would reduce the cost and complexity of offering pension plans for small employers and would be portable, allowing workers to contribute to same account for each job they hold in Colorado.

The state should continue to closely monitor the financial soundness of the PERA system and take necessary action to ensure that it is able to make good on the benefits promised to public employees.