Courtesy and , Institute for Policy Studies (IPS-dc.org), December 15, 2016
As working families face rising retirement insecurity, CEOs enjoy platinum pensions.
This report
compares the retirement assets of top CEOs with those of all African-American, Latino, female-headed, and white working class households.
Key findings:
Just 100 CEOs have company retirement funds worth $4.7 billion — a sum equal to the entire retirement savings of the 41 percent of U.S. families with the smallest nest eggs.
This $4.7 billion total is also equal to the entire retirement savings of the bottom:
- 59 percent of African-American families
- 75 percent of Latino families
- 55 percent of female-headed households
- 44 percent of white working class households
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.
- Ordinary workers with 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.
- If President-elect Donald Trump succeeds in cutting the top marginal tax rate to 33 percent, Fortune 500 CEOs would save $196 million on the income taxes they would owe if they withdrew their tax-deferred funds.
- These special executive deferred accounts are exempt from 401(k) contribution limits.
- Michael Neidorff, the CEO of Centene, which specializes in providing health plans to Medicaid recipients, has nearly $140 million in his deferred compensation account, up 658 percent since the 2010 launch of Obamacare.
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.