On average, the top 100 CEO nest eggs are large enough to generate for each of these executives a $253,088 monthly retirement check for the rest of their lives.
- Among ordinary workers, those lucky enough to have 401(k) plans had a median balance at the end of 2013 of $18,433, enough for a monthly retirement check of just $101.
- Of workers 56-61 years old, 39 percent have no employer-sponsored retirement plan whatsoever and will likely depend entirely on Social Security, which pays an average benefit of $1,239 per month. [...]
With nearly $3 billion in special tax-deferred accounts, Fortune 500 CEOs stand to gain enormously from Trump’s proposed tax cuts on top earners. [...]
The retirement asset gap between CEOs mirrors the racial and gender divides among ordinary Americans.
The 10 white male CEOs with the largest retirement funds hold a combined $1.4 billion, more than eight times more than the 10 CEOs of color with the largest retirement assets and nearly five times as much as the top 10 female CEOs.
The retirement divide is even greater when accounting for race. The CEOs' combined retirement funds are equal to the retirement savings of 59 percent of African-American families and 75 percent of Latino families.
Topping the list is Progressive CEO Glenn M. Renwick, who can expect a monthly retirement check of $1,035,733. How does that compare with regular workers lucky enough to have 401(k) plans? With an average balance at the end of 2013 of $18,433, these workers can count on a monthly check of just over $100.
Why this retirement divide? Anderson and report co-author Scott Klinger write: "This is not the result of executives working harder or investing more wisely. Instead, this gap is one more example of rule rigging in favor of the 1 percent."
To wit: pension rules that allow CEOs to put unlimited funds into tax-deferred plans, the
erosion of traditional pensions, and a tax code
loophole that allows for so-called "performance-based" pay.
Apart from eliminating those rules and loopholes to narrow the divide, social security should be expanded by requiring the wealthiest to pay on all their earned income; safeguarding public pensions from attack, supporting universal retirement funds, and increasing unionization as leverage for retirement benefits.
President-elect Donald Trump could make the problem worse, the report states, if he cuts the U.S. top marginal tax rate from the current 39.6 percent to 33 percent. That would save CEOs $196 million when they pay the IRS their taxes on their "special unlimited deferred compensation plans."
The new IPS report comes on the heels of an analysis by
Quartz finding that Trump's 17 cabinet-level pics have more wealth than one-third of U.S. households combined.