Review
"In the post-defined benefit era, future retirees must take an active role and exercise considerable self-control to ensure a comfortable retirement. Falling Short furnishes both the motivation and the know-how to help them succeed."
-- Financial Analysts Journal"Falling Short points the way to solving America's retirement challenge simply by optimizing our existing systems. Make Social Security solvent, make workplace savings plans fully automatic, lift savings rates and extend savings plans to all workers. What are we waiting for? Let's do it."
Robert L. Reynolds, President and CEO of Putnam Investments"I loved this book! It is short, punchy, and highly readable. It provides a full analysis of the grim status of our nation's retirement savings plans and offers solutions that are realistic and long overdue. I recommend it to all those concerned about America's retirement problems, including their own."
John C. Bogle, Founder and Former Chairman and CEO of Vanguard Group"Illuminating the retirement challenge by combining Munnell and Eschtruth's keen sense of the academic research with the horse sense of famed investment advisor Ellis is a great idea. Read Falling Short; it's brimming with sound advice. Then pass it along to your brothers and sisters."
Alan S. Blinder, Professor of Economics at Princeton University and author of After the Music Stopped"Many baby boomers are woefully unprepared for retirement. This book proposes both useful actions that individuals can take and institutional changes to 401(k)s and Social Security. This gem of a book makes an important contribution to alleviate a pressing social problem."
Burton Malkiel, Professor Emeritus at Princeton University and author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street"America's retirement savings system has failed. Too many people are retiring with too little to live on. This excellent book nails the changes and incentives needed to restore an aging generation to fiscal health. Every voter and policymaker should read it."
Jane Bryant Quinn, author of Making the Most of Your Money NOW About the Author
Andrew D. Eschtruth is associate director for external relations at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. He directs the Center's communication activities and manages relationships with the government, foundation, and corporate communities. Previously, Eschtruth was a senior analyst with the U.S. Government Accountability Office specializing in federal fiscal policy and social insurance programs.
Alicia H. Munnell is the Peter F. Drucker Professor of Management Sciences, Carroll School of Management, and director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. She has served as assistant secretary of the Treasury for economic policy and as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. She was also cofounder and first president of the National Academy of Social Insurance. Munnell has written several books, including Working Longer: The Solution to the Retirement Income Challenge, with Steven Sass, and Coming Up Short: The Challenge of 401(k) Plans, with Annika Sunden.
Michael Butler Murray is a professional actor, narrator, and musician who has voiced over fifty-five audiobooks. His recorded titles run the spectrum from dramatic to comedic fiction and nonfiction titles varying in topics from the Middle East to understanding your dog's olfactory senses. Born on Long Island, New York, he has been performing his entire life. Over the past few decades, he has performed in slews of musicals, dramas, and improv shows across the country, has appeared in several films, and performs regularly with his guitar comedy duo, Schoolcraft & Murray. He loves stretching his legs in the great outdoors, sailing, surfing and, naturally, sitting in a quiet box reading aloud.
Charles D. Ellis is the founder and former managing partner of Greenwich Associates, an international consultancy where he advised large institutional investors, foundations, and government organizations in more than 130 financial markets across the globe. He has taught investing at both Harvard and Yale and is the author of more than fifteen books, including the bestselling Winning the Loser's Game.
