Retirement Heist: How Companies Plunder and Profit From the Nest Eggs of American Workers

• Author: Ellen E. Schultz
• Publisher: Penguin, 256 pages

We’ve all heard of the “retirement savings crisis.” Many Americans aren't socking away nearly as much money as they'll need to retire. But how did this predicament come about? Pulitzer-Prize-winning journalist Ellen E. Schultz minces no words: It was “no demographic accident,” she writes. “It was manufactured by an alliance of two groups: top executives and their facilitators in the retirement industry—benefits consultants, insurance companies, and banks” who helped to engineer the rapid decline of workers’ pensions and benefits. Schultz explores how some companies have slashed benefits to boost their earnings, turned pension plans into cash, and used pension assets to finance downsizings. The C-suite drama is interwoven with powerful stories of real retirees struggling to cope with unexpected benefit cuts. Retirement Heist is essential reading not only for pension participants but also anyone seeking to understand how Americans’ retirement security evaporated.

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