"Baby Bonds" Bill to Give American Newborns $1000 Savings Accounts

"Baby Bonds" Bill to Give American Newborns $1000 Savings Account
Photo by Dominika Roseclay from Pexels

One major issue every new President faces is the increasing wealth gap, and one way to help ease that discrepancy is the "baby bonds" government-funded financial program.

The looming social security backing is one of the pressing items on President Biden's to-do list. They see the "baby bonds" idea as a new pitch that would address the current crisis. For a while, the financial concept has been around, which has intensified the currency among economists, financial planners, and legislators as a budding fix for retirees' income disparity and social insecurity.

Financial adviser Ric Edelman thinks this could be an economic game-changer for millions of Americans, helping to close the racial wealth gap.

Edelman, who is Edelman Financial Engines founder, said, "I believe that the fundamental reason that we are in a retirement crisis in our country is that we don't allow people to save for retirement starting at birth." He continues, " Instead of trying to figure out how to get workers to save more, we need to get Americans to save sooner."

He said, "There are many great investors, and wealthy people, who are so risk-averse." He added, "They routinely place a portion of their investments into cash reserves, into very safe assets such as government securities. So this will be a natural place for them to consider."

Here's how the "baby bonds" bill works

Under Edelman's Retirement Income Security for Everyone, or RISE proposal, the Treasury Department would issue RISE savings bonds on behalf of the roughly 4 million offspring each year. The bondholders are authorized to redeem in 20 years. Edelman trusts there would be a call for the retirement baby bonds, even if investors' returns would be little.

It is like how the U.S. Treasury Department sold other savings bonds. The U.S. federal government would trade savings bonds, called "baby bonds," to investors, and its earnings will fund a pot of money for every baby born in the United States at zero cost to taxpayers. Parents will not buy the bond but the investors.

For seven decades, the baby bonds pot money would raise, intact and untaxed. At that point, the fund would be spread to incoming 70-year-old Americans through a monthly check from the fund.

Thus, an American who will celebrate his 70th birthday will receive a monthly check to supplement his Social Security benefit. The money, if taken together, would put him stably in the middle-income bracket. All he'd have to do to collect the money is being born.

Reasonably so, there are many apprehensions about the retirement savings crisis millions of Americans face, and they may be black or white.

According to the Report on the economic well-being of U.S. households, "Many adults are struggling to save for retirement and feel that they are not on track with their savings." Also stated, "While preparedness for retirement increases with age, concerns about insufficient savings are still common or prevalent for those near retirement age."

One-quarter of the working populace has no retirement fund or savings, or pension. 13 percent of the group are Black and Hispanic Americans who are 60 and older.

The Covid-19 pandemic is likely to make the situation worse since it has left millions unemployed. They will be even farther behind even if they get back to work since they will indeed prioritize settling their overdue rent or past-due mortgage payments.

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