Not everyone will need a Trump IRA |
Years ago, I volunteered teaching financial literacy at a women’s homeless shelter. I may have a doctorate in economics, but I was pretty useless. Being poor in America requires making many complex financial decisions involving details of government benefits that I don’t know much about.
Still, I like to think I was of some use when it came to retirement saving, which is my specialty. I was surprised how many of the women had money in a retirement account from a former job. I gently suggested they make what is called a hardship withdrawal, get out of the shelter, and stop worrying so much about retirement. They were resistant. Saving for retirement is important, they told me.
One of my controversial opinions about retirement is that not everyone needs to save for it. It is a heresy to say so — the conventional wisdom is that everyone should have access to a retirement account. Just last month President Donald Trump signed an executive order creating access to........