Putnam Investments CEO Robert L. Reynolds Calls on Massachusetts Congressional Delegation to Defend Retirement Savings
2011年5月24日 - 10:00PM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
Proposals by Washington deficit hawks to cap or eliminate tax
incentives that encourage Americans to save for retirement are
“short-sighted” and could contribute to sending millions of low-
and moderate-income workers into retirement with little or no
savings, said Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive
Officer Robert L. Reynolds. Speaking before the Greater Boston
Chamber of Commerce Executive Forum today, Reynolds called on the
Congressional delegation in Massachusetts, the birthplace of the
mutual fund industry and a national ‘hub’ for retirement services,
to oppose any policy shift that could undercut incentives for
workers to save or employers to offer workplace savings plans.
“We absolutely need to take steps to balance the federal budget
and put the nation on the path to fiscal solvency, but nothing we
do to achieve national solvency should come at the expense of
personal solvency, especially private retirement savings or
incentives for companies to offer 401(k) plans to their workers.
Those most severely hurt if savings incentives were cut would be
low and moderate income workers who need help in saving for their
futures.” said Reynolds. “I urge the Massachusetts Congressional
delegation to take the lead in defending policies that enable
millions of working Americans to save for a secure and dignified
retirement.”
Contrary to any notion that savings tax deferrals benefit only
the well-to-do, Reynolds noted that workers earning less than
$100,000 annually received 62 percent of all retirement-related tax
expenditures while paying just 26 percent of federal income taxes.
By contrast, workers earning more than $200,000 annually received
just 11 percent of all retirement-related tax expenditures despite
paying 52 percent of all federal income taxes.1
Among low to moderate income workers, those earnings between
$30,000 and $50,000, having access to savings plans on the job is
vital, Reynolds said. 71.5 percent of such workers save for
retirement if they have a workplace savings plan, but just 4.6
percent of workers in the same income bracket who lack a plan on
the job save through an Individual Retirement Account.2 A shift in
policy that reduces incentives for companies to offer plans could
backfire, Reynolds warned, “sending many millions of people towards
retirement in the future with essentially no savings at all – and
potentially increasing future demand for government
assistance.”
Reynolds pointed out that reductions in retirement savings
incentives during the last major tax overhaul in 1986 caused a
significant drop in retirement savings. He warned that reduction in
savings incentives now being considered in Washington could have an
even more severe impact, since few younger workers today have
access to traditional defined benefit savings plans.
In addition to protecting existing incentives to save, Reynolds
has called for extending savings opportunities to many millions of
working Americans who currently lack access to a workplace savings
plan. Reynolds endorsed the auto-IRA payroll deduction proposal –
originally put forward by the Heritage Foundation and the Brookings
Institution -- as a reasonable, cost-effective way for millions of
lower-income workers to save through an IRA at their job.
“Expanding access to retirement savings programs through ideas
such as the auto-IRA proposal would give millions more workers a
stake in our free enterprise system and the opportunity to build a
real nest egg for their future. Every dollar that retirement savers
set aside today likely means that much less they will need in
government assistance in the future,” said Reynolds. “National
solvency and personal solvency complement each other. We should
never pit one against the other. We need policies that foster both.
I hope that our Congressional delegation will take the lead on this
in Washington.”
Reynolds, a 30-year retirement savings industry veteran, has
long been an outspoken advocate for reforming and revitalizing both
public and private retirement systems as part of an effort to
restore the nation’s finances. He previously has called for
universal adoption by workplace plans of auto-enrollment, savings
escalation and guidance on appropriate asset allocation, all of
which were authorized by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, and
has called on Congress to adopt reforms to preserve the essence of
Social Security and protect the truly needy.
Putnam Investments and Retirement
Since Reynolds became Putnam’s President and CEO in 2008, the
company has deepened its commitment to the retirement market and
launched a series of innovations and initiatives to meet emerging
customer needs. In recognition of its leadership in retirement
savings, Putnam was named the inaugural recipient of the
“Retirement Leader of the Year” award at the 2011 annual Mutual
Fund Industry Awards.
In addition to such initiatives as the Lifetime IncomeSM
Analysis Tool, Putnam also has announced plans to launch a suite of
income-oriented mutual funds that aim to help advisors work with
retirees in developing strategies for monthly income flows, at
varying levels of risk tolerance, to flexibly address their
changing lifestyle financial needs throughout retirement. The
product suite, composed of Putnam Retirement Income Fund Lifestyle
1, Putnam Retirement Income Fund Lifestyle 2, and Putnam Retirement
Income Fund Lifestyle 3, is expected to have broad applicability
for defined-contribution, IRA and other retirement assets.
Putnam also created new levels of fee transparency disclosures
designed to provide plan sponsors with the clearest, most complete
overview of fees and expenses in the workplace savings industry. In
addition, it has expanded the services it offers to 401(k)
retirement plans and has developed products to meet the needs of
those planning for or already in retirement. The firm has created a
platform that provides flexible and scalable services and solutions
for advisors, consultants and their plan sponsor clients in every
segment of the retirement market.
Putnam RetirementReady® Funds, the firm’s suite of 10
target-date/lifecycle retirement funds, were the first suite of
lifecycle funds to integrate absolute return strategies. Employed
in retirement portfolios, Putnam Absolute Return Funds* are
intended to pursue positive returns in up and down markets, to help
protect against the harmful effects of adverse investment returns
and to seek to reduce volatility.
About Putnam Investments
Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a leading global money
management firm with over 70 years of investment experience. The
firm was recently named one of the top 15 mutual fund families by
Lipper/Barron’s for the second consecutive year. At the end of
April 2011, Putnam had $130 billion in assets under management,
including mutual fund assets of $71 billion and institutional
assets of $59 billion. Putnam has offices in Boston, London,
Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney. For more
information, visit putnam.com.
Putnam mutual funds are distributed by Putnam Retail
Management.
*Putnam’s Absolute Return Funds are not intended to outperform
stocks and bonds during strong market rallies.
1 Data provided by American Society for Pension Professionals
and Actuaries (ASPPA) for tax year 2010.
2 Source: Employee Benefits Research Institute (2010) estimate
using 2008 Panel of SIPP (covered by Employer Plan) and EBRI
estimate (Not Covered by an Employee Plan- IRA only).
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