Encore: Work that matters in the second half of life.

The media is pounding out stories about boomers running out of money before they run out of time, prompting a flurry of proposals about how to get Americans to save more.

The plans are still couched in the language of “retirement,” but they may be even more useful in enabling encore careers by providing a financial cushion for career switches that may bring greater meaning and income but perhaps smaller paychecks.

The New America Foundation posed the question, “Should the U.S. Mandate Private Pension Saving?” The event touted the example of Australia, where the average worker Australian retires with about $500,000 more in savings than the average American, thanks to a national system mandates a 9 percent contribution from employers.

Australia’s “Industry Funds” are compulsory for all workers, with a few rare exceptions; fully vested on the first day of contribution; portable for any job; and eligible for borrowing only in extreme circumstances (such as being unemployed for six months or longer).

At a Center for American Progress forum called “Protecting the Nest Egg in a Turbulent Economy,” Pamela Perun of the Aspen Institute proposed a “Super Simple” savings plan that would include:

• Child Accounts for each child that would be seeded with a $500 investment that could be withdrawn at 18.
• Home Accounts that Americans could use to save for a first home or transition into a retirement account without being penalized
• America’s IRA, a simplified version of the standard IRA that would be offered to everyone
• Security Plus Annuities that would be sold to new retirees to ensure long-term financial security and could be automatically added to Social Security payments if elected