by G. White

There are few times in life worth looking forward to that are better than retirement, unless it is retiring knowing you will have financial security for you and your family. Most people will spend years working, knowing retirement is going to sneak up on them, and unfortunately, few will begin planning soon enough. When talking to financial planners they will tell you that it is never too soon to begin planning for your financial future, but at some point, it will be too late.

(NewsUSA) - The 21st century offers new opportunities and compelling reasons for workers to achieve the American dream of financial independence in retirement. Fortunately, making that dream a reality got easier when President George W. Bush signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 into law. This has enhanced the ability of millions of Americans to build wealth through retirement savings programs.

by David C. John and J. Mark Iwry

by David C. John and J. Mark Iwry

Retirement insecurity looms for millions of American workers. For most of us, Social Security will not be enough. A comfortable retirement, according to most investment professionals, requires an annual income of about 70 percent of pre-retirement earnings -- far more than Social Security provides for most workers.

Yet our nation’s personal savings rate -- saving as a percentage of income -- has dropped below zero, and traditional employer-sponsored defined benefit pensions, which have served workers so well for decades, are rapidly eroding.

But Resist Interfering in Its Investment Choices

Congress will improve the retirement security of millions of federal workers if it agrees to add auto-enrollment to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), a part of the federal government's employee retirement system. Under auto-enrollment, a worker participates in TSP unless he or she opts out of it. On June 19, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), which manages TSP and has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that TSP operates solely for the benefit of federal workers, voted to ask Congress for the authority to automatically enroll new and returning workers into TSP. The recommendation also has the support of TSP's Employee Thrift Advisory Council. Establishing auto-enrollment would especially help military personnel, whose participation rate in TSP is well below that of civilian employees.