WINCHESTER Legislation introduced by Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-10th, to safeguard Americans retirement savings in the midst of the financial crisis brought on by the coronavirus was incorporated into the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed by President Trump on Friday.

The $2 trillion CARES Act, approved by the Senate on Wednesday and the House on Friday, includes a provision to suspend for the current year the required minimum distribution (RMD) for defined contribution retirement plans, including 401(k)s, thrift savings plans (TSPs), and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Before the CARES Act was passed, individuals with these plans were required to begin withdrawing a percentage of their tax-deferred retirement plan when they turn 72 or face a penalty of 50% of the amount that should have been distributed.

The economic fallout of this pandemic has taken a devastating toll on the retirement savings of millions across America, said Wexton in a news release. The provisions that I fought for will suspend the required minimum distribution, allowing retirees to leave their money in tax-deferred accounts without facing a penalty and give time for the markets to recover. This will help protect the financial security of every American household that has planned their future around hard-earned retirement savings.

Wexton notes in the release that as the financial markets face a historic downturn due to COVID-19, tax-deferred retirement plans have faced a significant drop in value, meaning that individuals who are made to withdraw funds at this time will take serious losses on their investment.

No one whose retirement savings has lost value due to the pandemic should be forced to withdraw funds and take losses on their investments while the market is down, Wexton said in a statement to The Star. This is just a small piece of our overall relief program, but its a common-sense, bipartisan step my colleagues can take to protect the retirement savings of all Americans. Im working hard to get help to my constituents as fast as possible and in every way possible.

Wextons retirement legislation will become effective immediately and remain in effect until the end of 2020.

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Wexton bill to protect retirement savings included in coronavirus stimulus package - The Winchester Star

Just over half of all Americans owned stocks in 2019, according to a Gallup poll. Unfortunately, 35% of Americans don't have any equities and thus have no exposure to the market.

With the stock market experiencing major ups and downs in recent weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it may seem odd to read an article that laments the fact more Americans aren't invested. But even in times of economic uncertainty, and even when the market falls, investing in stocks is still your best bet if you want to build wealth.

In fact, it is very difficult (and perhaps impossible) for the average person to build a big enough nest egg without putting a substantial amount of money into the stock market.

Image source: Getty Images.

While there are times when the market goes down, including in recent weeks, historically it has performed better than most other types of investments.

In fact, in a stock-heavy investment portfolio, you can reliably expect around a 7% annual return over timeafter accounting for inflation.This doesn't necessarily mean you'll make 7% in a particular year. Some years you may lose money, and in others you'll make more. But over the long term, expecting a 7% average annual return is reasonable given past market performance.

If you opt out of investing in stocks, though, or you invest only a small percentage of your portfolio in them, your projected returns are likely to be much lower. That means you have to save a whole lot more.

In fact, the table below shows how much more you'd have to invest per year to save $1 million by age 65, assuming you started at age 30.

Annual Return

Amount You Need to Save Annually

2%

$20,050

3%

$16,575

4%

$13,600

5%

$11,075

6%

$8,975

7%

$7,250

Table calculations: Author.

For most people, even saving $7,250 a year is a challenge, and putting aside more than $20,000 is downright impossible. To ensure you can build the necessary nest egg while saving an affordable sum, you simply have to put your money to work for you. That means investing in the market and earning a reasonable rate of return.

While you need money invested, you don't want too much -- you must balance risk with reward. A diversified portfolio that includes stocks and other investments is the best way to ensure you'll have enough in your later years.

The level of risk you should be exposed to varies depending on how soon you need the money. If you're retiring soon, you don't have time to wait out market downturns, so you'll want less money in stocks. If you're retiring decades from now, you'll want to invest more money in the market since you have a longer timeline for your investments to grow.

One good technique for deciding what percentage to put into the market is to subtract your age from 110. If you're 20, you should have 90% of your portfolio in the market; if you're 80, you should have just 30% in stocks.

Maintain this asset allocation even during volatile times and keep investing (and holding solid investments) even during market downturns. By buying and holding over the long term, you maximize your chances of earning or exceeding a 7% average annual return.

If you're among the minority of Americans with no money in the stock market, you should change that. And if you have some funds invested, but not enough, you may also want to consider re-allocating your assets. You don't need to wait until the market stabilizes or hits bottom, since there's no reliable way of timing it.

While it can be scary, and there is a risk associated with investing, there's also a downside to keeping your money out of the market. It may be safe, but it's unlikely to grow enough to give you the nest egg you need.

Don't pass up the chance for a secure future as a senior because of your fear of investing, even during these scary times.

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Why You Need to Invest to Save Enough for a Secure Retirement - The Motley Fool

Q. I have annuities in my retirement accounts. I hope to use the interest earned as spending money when I retire, which will be after I reach the age of 59 1/2. Will the interest be taxable in the state of New Jersey?

Counting it down

A. As with many tax issues, It depends.

Were going to assume that when you say annuities in retirement accounts, you mean youre holding an annuity purchased inside your IRA. This is called a qualified annuity.

The key is the source of the funds in the IRA annuity, said Howard Hook, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant with EKS Associates in Princeton.

He said if the funds in the IRA came from a rollover from a 401(k) plan, then the interest would be taxable for both federal and New Jersey purposes, Hook said.

That is because the contributions originally made into the 401(k) plan were tax deductible for both federal and New Jersey purposes so all the distributions are taxable, Hook said.

Interestingly enough, certain contributions to retirement plans are not tax deductible for New Jersey purposes, he said.

For example, if the funds were a rollover from a 403(b) plan, then a portion of the distribution would not be taxable because New Jersey does not allow a tax deduction for contributions into a 403(b).

Same goes if the original contributions were IRA contributions. New Jersey does not allow a tax deduction for those either, Hook said.

If the annuities are not IRA, the answer is different. These would be called non-qualified annuities.

If you indeed withdraw just the interest from the annuity, then you would only pay tax on the interest, Hook said. The interest would be subject to both federal and New Jersey income tax.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.

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How will my annuities be taxed by N.J. after I retire? - lehighvalleylive.com

A 401(k) is one of the best ways to save for retirement, but there's more than one type of employer-sponsored retirement account and knowing the differences can give you more options in the long run.

One of the biggest perks of contributing to a traditional 401(k) is that doing so can save you money on taxes. Any money you put in a traditional 401(k) goes straight from your paycheck before taxes are applied, so it reduces your taxable income.

But financial expert Suze Orman says there's a better way to invest for your retirement. Instead of investing in a traditional 401(k), Orman recommends investing in a Roth 401(k). Now you've probably heard of the individual retirement account option, the Roth IRA, but there's now a 401(k) version as well that functions in roughly the same way.

With a traditional 401(k), you don't pay taxes on the income you're funneling into your investments. But when you retire, you pay taxes when you withdraw money from that account.

With a Roth IRA, you contribute the money after-taxes, so while you don't get the immediate tax break, you don't have to pay any taxes when you retire. About 70% of employers offer Roth 401(k)s, according to Plan Sponsor Council of America's 2019 annual survey of employers.

"In my opinion, you should absolutely be putting every single cent into the Roth version of your retirement account," says Orman who recently released her new book,"The Ultimate Retirement Guide for 50+."

Why does Orman like Roth retirement accounts so much more? Because they offer more flexibility than a traditional 401(k). With a Roth 401(k), you don't ever have to take the required minimum distributions. Meanwhile, a traditional retirement account requires you to start taking money out at age 72. If you miss this deadline, or don't take enough money out, the penalty can be severe: The amount not withdrawn is taxed at 50% rate.

Meanwhile, if you're planning to leave retirement savings as an inheritance, Orman says a Roth 401(k) is better here, too. What if your kids are in a higher tax bracket than you ever were in, and you leave them money in a traditional 401(k)?

They're going to lose a lot of that money, Orman says. But with a Roth, they get it without income taxes, she says.

More from Invest in You: Avoid this investing mistake as coronavirus fears grip markets Here's the secret to multiplying your savings Save $1,000 without sacrificing anything you really love

If you don't have the option to invest in a Roth 401(k) at work, you can always invest in a Roth IRA if you earn under the income limit, Orman says. In 2020, you can put away $6,000 in a Roth IRA if you're under age 50 (a bit more if you're older), but you can only make full contributions to these accounts if your individual modified adjusted gross income is less than $124,000 this year ($193,000 for those who are married and filing jointly).

Orman's advice: If you have a retirement account at work that matches your contribution, invest up to the point of the match. After that, fully fund your Roth IRA.

Plus, with a Roth IRA, you can take out your contributions at any time without penalty, regardless of your age or how long the money has been there. "There are so many advantages for you to do a Roth versus a traditional," Orman says.

"So please don't go for the tax write off today so that later on in life you have to pay taxes on a traditional retirement account. Go for a Roth," Orman says.

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Here's why Suze Orman says it's better to invest your retirement savings in a Roth 401K if you can - CNBC

Congress may permit retirees to skip required minimum distributions from their retirement savings.

The House coronavirus relief bill, which was released yesterday, contains a provision that waives for 2020 the required minimum distributions from individual retirement accounts and workplace retirement plans.

A similar provision is in the latest version of the Senate bill.

"For people with a retirement account and who don't need the money right now, it's helpful," said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation. "It's interesting that this showed up in both versions; it shows some consensus."

The House's proposed legislation contains a range of additional relief measures, including permitting coronavirus-related withdrawals from retirement accounts and enhancing the earned income tax credit.

Historically, savers who are aged 70 have had to take mandatory withdrawals from their retirement accounts every year. The distributions are required from each 401(k) account you hold, as well as any traditional IRAs you have.

Roth IRAs are exempt from RMDs, but Roth 401(k) investors must take the mandated withdrawals.

Starting in 2020, the Secure Act boosted the RMD age to 72 and over.

If it's your first time taking this distribution, you generally have until April 1 of the following year to do so. But all subsequent RMDs must be taken by year-end.

If there was ever a good time to waive mandatory distributions, now would be it. Mandatory distributions are looking especially painful as major market indexes have been battered by volatility.

While this measure and others would allow savers to hold onto more of their savings, waiving the RMD for 2020 would work in favor of those who don't need to live off of their IRA or 401(k) in retirement.

"The idea of pushing back the RMD is useful, but it would mostly benefit those who are still working or who are higher income," said Jamie Hopkins, director of retirement research at Carson Group.

Indeed, individuals who are still working and saving in a workplace retirement plan are able to put off their RMD from the plan until they retire provided they don't own more than 5% of the company.

They still need to take RMDs from their IRAs.

More from Smart Tax Planning: Tax Day is July 15. Why you should get your return in sooner Congress may allow you to take $100,000 from your 401(k) How those coronavirus-fueled losses can cut your taxes

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Congress may let you skip this mandatory withdrawal from retirement accounts - CNBC

When you start planning for retirement, the hope is that you will set aside money and it will grow until you leave the working world to spend your time on things other than working at a job.

However, life happens. There are going to be times when you will need money to pay for things that pop up. It is at times as if these that you will want to pull money out of your IRA.

However, you do need to be careful. If you pull money out before you reach age 59-and-a-half, you will face a 10% penalty for early withdraw. This would apply if you were pulling money out of either a Roth or Traditional IRAs.

However, it only applies to the amount of the distribution that is included in gross income. Therefore, it does not apply to the part of your distribution that is a return of your contributions.

However, this is not a hard and fast rule. There are certain instances where you will not be subject to the 59 and-a-half rule. When you receive your 1099-R that shows the amount you received, Box 7 will have a code in it that will signify what type of distribution it is.

Lets take a look at these codes and what they mean.

If you see Code 1 in box seven, you have had a separation of service.

Code 2 in box seven means that you have received a distribution that is part of a series of substantially equal periodic payments.

If you have a total and permanent disability, you should see a three in box seven, indicating that the payments you receive are due to a disability.

Code 4 in box seven means that you are receiving the payment as a beneficiary of the participant in the plan, who has died.

If you have received a distribution from the retirement plan to pay for unreimbursed medical costs, box seven will have a five in it.

If you underwent a divorce, and as part of qualified domestic relations order fund were distributed from a retirement plan (other than an IRA), box seven with having a six written in it.

If you have left a job and have been receiving unemployment compensation for 12 consecutive weeks, you can receive money from a retirement plan to pay for unemployment health insurance.

You can make withdraws from an IRA to pay for education costs, including tuition, supplies, books, and room and board for someone who is a half-time student.

First-time homebuyers are allowed to withdraw up to $10,000 from an IRA to purchase a home.

Code 10 in Box 7 indicates that a distribution was made from a retirement plan to pay an IRS levy.

If you are a reservist called to active duty for a period of 180 days or more, or for an indefinite period, if number 11 appears in in Box 7 indicates that you have received a qualified reservist deferral.

Need some help with understanding your options when it comes to early retirement distributions?

Drop me a line at chris@pedenaccountingservices.com and we can discuss your situation and how best to take advantage of the deductions and credits available to you.

In accordance with Circular 230 Treasury Department Regulations, we are required to advise you that any tax advice contained in this article may not be relied upon to avoid penalties under the Internal Revenue Code.

If you are interested in a written opinion that can be relied upon to prevent the imposition of tax-related penalties, please contact the author.

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1099-R explained: What you should know if you're pulling cash from a retirement fund to pay for unexpected expenses - PotomacLocal.com

Doctors and nurses are being called out of retirement to help fight coronavirus as the number of patients grows in the United States. "It's truly an all-hands-on-deck approach" because of the "finite number" of health care workers, CBS News medical contributor Dr. Tara Narula said.

There's "really a dwindling supply of health care providers, either because they are quarantined, they're at home taking care of their kids, or many are getting sick," Narula said on "CBS This Morning" Wednesday.

Narula pointed to the number of medical professionals who reportedly got infected with coronavirus abroad. "Over 3,000 health care professionals infected in China. Over 4,000 in Italy. Over 5,000 in Spain," she said.

"We talk a lot about the supply of masks and ventilators, but those are things that when we decide to, we can ramp up production relatively quickly. It's not so the case with our health care providers. It takes years and years to train doctors and nurses and other health care professionals," Narula said.

Because of that, tens of thousands of retired and former doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners have volunteered to go back to work. One of them is Michele Pedicone, who left her practice as a respiratory therapist in Seattle two years ago to teach at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York.

"It's a calling on my heart," Pedicone told Narula. "I need to help because I believe the systems are going to be overwhelmed."

Pedicone, a single mom, said she discussed going back to work with her son. "He has seen me out in the hospitals most of his life, taking care of other people," she said. "He said, 'I could do it as long as I didn't get sick,' which sounds like a really good deal."

Pedicone admitted she was worried about her safety, but said she thinks that's normal.

"I think a little apprehension, maybe a little fear and anxiety can be healthy in this situation," she said.

She is worried about bringing the virus home to her son but said she recognizes that she could also bring it home by going to the grocery store.

Pedicone's father called her "a hero" for going back to help, she said. Asked how she felt hearing that, she said, "I cried for an hour. And then I moved on."

"Seeing how desperate the patients are and how desperate my colleagues are, there's no way I could just sit home and read their stories, not do something about it," Pedicone said.

Narula said there is concern about some doctors and nurses going back to work because of their ages.

"We know that about 40% of doctors and nurses are over the age of 55. As we've discussed, the older you are, the more underlying conditions you have, the more at risk you are for having a severe consequence or case of COVID," she said on "CBS This Morning." "That being said, we're trying to figure out where to put these retirees that might be safer. Some people are discussing using them in telehealth capacities now that those rules have changed. They can provide care across state lines. Or in areas where they wouldn't be directly facing patients or dealing with patients."

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Doctors and nurses put retirement on hold to fight coronavirus: "It's a calling on my heart" - CBS News

Over 1,000 local senior citizens can now virtually connect with their family and friends with the donated iPads.(Photo: Provided/City of Cincinnati)

[ This story is being provided for free to our readers during the new coronavirus outbreak. Consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Enquirer atcincinnati.com/subscribe.]

Twenty local retirement and nursing homes can now provide virtual visits for families while respecting Gov. Mike DeWine's stay-at-home order, officials said.

TCC Gives, a national corporate giving initiative, donated 25 iPads to Greater Cincinnati facilities, most of which are affordable or low-income housing. According to a release from the City of Cincinnati, those facilities house about 1,500 senior citizens.

The iPads were distributed Monday by representatives from the City of Cincinnati and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

TCC Gives donated 35 iPads to local retirement homes and nursing homes throughout Cincinnati.(Photo: Provided/City of Cincinnati)

This is a really challenging time for many people, especially the elderly in our community, and were committed to showing up for them quickly, Moira Weir, President/CEO of United Way of Greater Cincinnati, said in the release. Were proud to bring these resources together so people can stay connected to their families."

The City states they received numerous calls of concern from individuals unable to connect with their elderly family members following a March 12 announcement from DeWinethat nursing homes would be closed to visitors during the pandemic. It is believed that the elderly are of the most at-risk to contract the new coronavirus.

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the City's Office of Aging and Accessibility responded by partnering with TCC Gives and providing technology for virtual visits.

The iPads were delivered Monday by representatives from the City of Cincinnati and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.(Photo: Provided/City of Cincinnati)

I am grateful we have compassionate nonprofit leaders in our community who learn of a need and act quickly to meet it, Mayor John Cranley said in the release. Providing technology to connect seniors to their loved ones who they would otherwise have no means to contact speaks volumes about our city. Lets continue to take care of each other.

Little Sisters of the Poor is one of the facilities benefitting from the donation, according to the release. Sarah Steffen, a representative from the home, said technology is "a huge positive for our home during this time."

"It is keeping spirits and smiles up," she said.

The City of Cincinnati's Office of Aging and Accessibilityhas created a list of resources in response to COVID-19. You can find those resources on their website.

[ Get breaking news related to the novel coronavirus by downloading theCincinnati.com app]

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Coronavirus in Ohio: Cincinnati nursing, retirement homes receive iPads for virtual visits - The Cincinnati Enquirer

Updated: May 25, 2018:

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Retirement and Health Plan Cost Reductions During a Financial Downturn or Recession - JD Supra

A filled shopping cart is seen at a supermarket on March 19, 2020 in Ahlen, western Germany, due to ... [+] the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. - Adrian Blaschke, managing director of a patient transport company 'Sani-Trans', carries out ambulance trips for transport patients lying down or sitting in a stretcher chair and now he organises shopping for senior citizens so that they can stay at home as a risk group. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) (Photo by INA FASSBENDER/AFP via Getty Images)

Readers likely know that the emergency sick leave/childcare leave bill Ive been following passed and was signed by the president yesterday. The most substantial change from prior iterations has been that eligibility for the longer 3 month benefit, originally for a number of reasons, has been narrowed to provide for benefits for parents whose children are home from school. (Frustratingly enough, the definition of child as anyone under 18 remained, and Ive not been able to figure out whether that was intentionally expansive or if teenagers really were imagined to need direct parental care, but thats neither here nor there.) Others at Forbes have summarized the final provisions, and the Washington Post reports that the estimated price tag is $105 billion.

And at the same time, ABC News reported yesterday on the latest proposals:

The Treasury Department on Wednesday pitched the details of President Donald Trump's $1 trillion economic stimulus proposal to Congress, representing his top priorities for phase three of the federal governments response to the new coronavirus pandemic.

The proposal, obtained Wednesday by ABC News, would authorize two $250 billion rounds of direct payments to individual taxpayers, with the first payment issued beginning on April 6. Another wave of payments would be distributed to taxpayers beginning on May 18.

President Trump refused to place a dollar amount on the payments during a news conference Wednesday afternoon, although Treasury proposed for the payment amounts to be fixed and tiered based on income level and family size, and each round of payments would be identical in amount.

Folks, I dont know that this makes the Central States funding deficit of $39 billion into chump change (or the $30 billion in liability for the city of Chicago pensions), but the scale of economic disruption, and the degree to which the government is expected to intervene, will likely have effects well beyond the pandemic itself. And this is far bigger than questions of stock markets and 401(k) balances.

Will the course of the next several months completely upend our understanding of the governments role in our lives? And how will this transform expectations for our role in saving for our retirement, vs. having our needs provided for by the government in retirement, and how will it affect the discussions of underfunding/bailouts when it comes to state and local pensions as well as multiemployer pensions?

A few items to consider:

Some time ago, in the context of a survey finding that Millennials had worryingly-low levels of retirement savings, I speculated that too many of them were Millennials in a different sense, that is, thinking that we were about to reach The Millennium - that is, the secular equivalent of the 1,000 year period of peace believed by some Christians to come at the Second Coming of Christ, and declining to save accordingly. In fact, this was almost exactly two years ago, before Bernie Sanders promises of student loan forgiveness and no-cost-share universal health care, let alone Andrew Yangs promises of a universal basic income.

Now were in a different situation, in waters that are uncharted in many respects in terms of both public health, and the short- and long-term economic effects. How do we help people who right now are unable to work because restaurants are shut down, or have no caregivers during work hours for children too young to manage for themselves, and what will we need to do in the future after the current crisis is over? We have a playbook for recessions, and we have mechanisms in place such as unemployment and food stamps (which, admittedly, the government had already had a poor track record in processing quickly). But we also have a generation of young people, in those Bernie and Yang supporters, who are coming to believe that we are on the cusp of a radical economic transformation.

And here are some comments from Sundays debate that worry me.

Joe Biden:

Were going to have to not only deal with the immediate crisis, economic crisis, which is the most critical now to let people know their mortgages are going to be paid, their rents are going to be paid, theyre going to have childcare, theyre going to make sure that all their medical bills are cared for relating to this, et cetera. We have to go beyond that. Were going to have to be in a situation where were meeting on a daily basis, like we did in the middle of the financial crisis, to decide how we are going to find the wherewithal and the money to be able to see to it. We hold all these folks harmless [emphasis mine] . . . .

People are looking for results, not a revolution. They want to deal with the results they need right now, and we can do that by making sure that we make everybody whole who has been so badly hurt in terms of they lose their job, in terms of not having the ability to care for their children, in terms of the healthcare costs that they have related to this crisis. We can make them whole now, now, and put in process a system whereby they all are made whole [emphasis mine].

Bernie Sanders:

Well, I think it goes without saying that as a nation we have to respond as forcefully as we can to the current crisis, but it is not good enough not to be understanding how we got here and where we want to go into the future. So how does it happen that today, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, half of our people are scared to death? Good. I agree. In fact, that was my idea originally to make sure that every person in this country is made whole as a result of this crisis [emphasis mine].

This is a radically new idea: to imagine that the government can not just mitigate the economic harms people experience but act in such a way that can prevent anyone from suffering any ill financial effect due to the pandemic and its effects on the economy. In reality, of course, this is not happening: after the first two weeks, the paid leave legislation only covers 2/3rds pay. But if this mindset is adopted by Americans at large, rather than seen as overblown rhetoric by presidential candidates trying to one-up each other in their promises, then all the hard work people have put into encouraging greater savings rates might be for naught.

And consider further this comment to my prior article on multi-employer pensions and the prospect of a federal bailout:

The economic train wreck right in front of us ought to end the chance of pensioners being treated any differently than any other retirees without enough savings to cover their costs in retirement. Congress is probably going to have to do something to help impoverished retirees; that will have to cover Teamster pensioners the same as everyone else.

Will Congress feel obliged to provide the same sort of rescue to those affected by stock market drops, as to those whove lost their jobs or childcare source? Probably not. But if the long-term economic and political effects of the pandemic is a new expectation that the government should remedy all ills, then, in whatever our new normal becomes, it will be all the harder to prod people to save for retirement not just out of some future imagined extra income but in the here-and-now.

After all, if one considers others instances of national crises, there was a role for communities to come together to help: World War II had victory gardens and scrap metal drives. In World War I, women made surgical dressings and hand-knitted socks through the Red Cross. More recently, communities worked together to provide care packages to soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now? People wishing to help post on NextDoor their willingness to go shopping for their neighbors, to be sure, but, realistically, all eyes are on the government to get us through the next weeks and months by coordinating testing and treatment and by making up for lost income. Despite the closing of schools and the increasingly-strong recommendations for social distancing, CBS News circulated footage of college students happily partying away on the beach, unwilling to sacrifice their Spring Break trips, producing fears that, without cooperation with recommendations, mandatory lock-downs would be the next step. And where people in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia have adapted by wearing face masks, we in the United States have been given the directive not to take this personal self-protective action in order to preserve the supply for medical personnel. (I was particularly struck by a recent New York Times opinion piece, Why Telling People They Dont Need Masks Backfired, which reports that mask-wearing has been promoted by the government in those countries as a part of their strategy; there are even mask patterns online. But this means that one way in which individuals can take a tangible action in other countries is effectively not available to us.)

I am wholly unqualified to forecast the progression of COVID-19/coronavirus disease in the United States, but, beyond the (short term in the grand scheme of things) effects of the disease itself, it seems entirely possible that we see a radical transformation in our collective expectations of the role of government in areas beyond public health.

The floor is open! Share your thoughts at JaneTheActuary.com!

Continue reading here:
How Will COVID-19 Affect Our Retirement Savings System? - Forbes