ghilarducci and, ms. ghilarducci, saying ever thinks so you said is almost portions having parts of it you mentioned, ms. greszler, that your statistic come of our deck and 50% of those just getting pie by has decreased by one half percent of that income is 120% of pre-retirement income. so can you respond going to ask you to respond? spread love to because we've heard some widely different statistics here. the difference is looking at survey-based data which just asks individuals what your income is versus administrative data such as irs tax records, what people have actually reported on their taxes. .. >> so you'll see in page three of my testimony here, there's a study that's using the irs panel data and 123% replacement at the median, 93% replacement. so most people on their tax records appear to have significant income in retirement. >> can you briefly respond to that? >> that study is old. the cps has been corrected for that. i use a much more comprehensive study from the university of michigan that

ghilarducci could you comment on that? and then ms.reszler. >> you've got it right there really good investors. >> the government is a good investment question. >> absolutely free just told me the highway bill because as a tangible project. they've got an asset and i would agree with their with infrastructure projects human capitol big investor in education. that has a rate of return so i am with you. >> but have we gone too far out a variety of subjects to be credible as a place to come in and try to fix the same thing we are talking about that we are abusingbu here? >> i do not buy in on the abuse but we are together on the barbecue do as a government should be investment absolutely. >> i would disagree the government is a good investor. do not think it is it will be wonderful to talk about having children beg able retiring a day when we have the exact opposite issue pointed out that is the reverse of compound interest. so we have children being born already there immediately birding with $100,000 or more and debt they are going have

. >> reporter: labor economist teresa ghilarducci says work is the new retirement. >> more than halfugh money to be retired. >> reporter: who's to blame for all of this? >> i blame policymakers who experimented with our retirement system 40 years ago, and they are not saying the experiment failed. >> reporter: that experiment is what we know today as the 401(k), named after a part of a 1978 law that offered companies an alternative to the traditional pension plan. >> the thought was that americans just needed a little bit of financial literacy, and they could just save on their own. >> reporter: but in fact, many of today's older workers were never taught enough about saving and investing for retirement. >> i grew up on a farm. nobody there instructed any of us to put money aside and make your own way later on down the road. >> reporter: whether you are past 65 like the gesicks, or almost their ages, there are a few rules of the road to keep in mind. basically, everyone needs a plan. first, figure out when it's best to claim social security. next, fund an emergency reserve. still wor

ghilarducci, we are in one sense the wealthiest country in history of the world, right? a lot of billionaires out there doing very, very well. how does come in your judgment, the american retirement plan, the status of older americans compared to people around other wealthy nations? >> my data really looks at that question. so i compare what people were like when they are approaching retirement 30 years ago and then take the same snapshot of the generation that looks like an right now. and as i said in my written testimony, today 50% will not be able to meet the retirement standards and most of them won't be able to meet poverty standards. compare that to other countries with all different kinds of systems, the scandinavians, the germs, the french, even the italians, just look at our peers, and we fall way behind. i i was looking at the elderly poverty rate of kazakhstan does better than us. so there's a couple of design -- >> i heard from some of the economist here today that we're doing just great, , things are getting better. >> , so that was my little lesson on avera