Ideas for 401(k) Have-Nots

Still another proposal, by Teresa Ghilarducci for the Economic Policy Institute, calls for Guaranteed Retirement Accounts and goes further than some other proposals in several of its features. For one thing, the accounts would be administered by the Social Security Administration, and participants would be guaranteed a fixed 3 percent rate of return by the government. If investment returns for the fund were better than that, the surplus would be distributed to participants. It would also convert the savings into a life annuity when workers retire to ensure that retirees don't outlive their income. The proposal also would require contributions equal to 5 percent of earnings up to the Social Security maximum ($97,500) and is designed to replace 70 percent of the average worker's pre-retirement earnings.

The Economic Policy Institute plan features a refundable tax credit and would eliminate the current tax deferral for 401(k)s and IRAs, which favors higher income workers. The higher your tax bracket, the more you benefit from each dollar saved. Ghilarducci points to a study that found that almost half of the tax subsidies for retirement savings go to the top 10 percent of earners.

Needless to say, all these proposals are far more complex than my brief descriptions of them. If anything comes of all the ideas that are being refined and retooled, that's when the details will matter.

Is there reason to think anything will? Iwry points to the fact that he and John represent different parts of the political spectrum, but their proposal has drawn support from Democrats and Republicans.

"I was in the business for over 30 years, and this was the issue that everybody scratched his head about," said former Fidelity executive Kimpel.

In the meantime, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Alec sells her novel and uses part of the proceeds to open an IRA.

Join Martha Hamilton and John Kimpel, former senior vice president and deputy general counsel of Fidelity Investments, for an online chat Tuesday at noon onhttp://washingtonpost.com.