Does an Impending Retirement Crisis Justify Required Contributions?

According to a recent study covered on CNBC, 42% of Americans have less than $10,000 saved for retirement.

The top self-selected justification was not making enough money…but consider this: saving just $25 a month, for 40 years, assuming even the low returns guaranteed by, say, a basic savings account, would already get you there.

Obviously, there’s more to it than this. Inflation, hidden investment fees (shout out to robo-advisor blooom who helps cull these from 401(k)s, #client), emergencies — life happens. And some people really would struggle to set aside even a small amount — but there’s clearly something else at play to get us to nearly half of Americans looking at a destitute retirement.

Yes, social security is a thing — it’s just not a thing that, as a sole source of income, can support the vast majority of people. My generation has been told time and time again not to rely on it anyway.

At what point do we need to admit that relying on people to recognize the long term benefits of small sacrifices isn’t cutting it? How are we going to handle millions of adults who are unable to support themselves after a certain point? Is it time to consider saving for retirement a requirement, automatically pulling a percentage of your paycheck out before it gets to you and socking it away for safekeeping, with no opt-outs?

There are problems with this too. Income inequality would carry through to retirement, much as it does now. Investment options would likely be limited. Still, I have to think that something is better than nothing, and the Americans retiring with essentially that, nothing, would likely agree.