Thea young French generation castigates the sixty-eight who would have taken everything and nothing planned, by calling them out with a "Ok, Boomer". Okay, but only in French in the text. Because the comparisons made by the OECD between France and the United States are edifying: poor retirees are few in France – the poverty rate for people over 66 is 3.4% – but it is 23 , 1% in the United States.
The American press comments with delight on the French demonstrations, but the public pensions, established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930s, are hardly part of the public debate: old age does not cost the community very much, especially since shorter life expectancy than in France and later retirement (67 years against 61 years in France according to the OECD) mean that people live less time receiving their pension: 16.4 years for American men against 22.7 years for French; 19.8 years for the Americans against 26.9 years for the French. In total, writes the OECD, compulsory pensions represented 7.1% of US GDP compared to 13.9% in France.
Optimal start around age 65
On average, the public pension distributed by Social Security to 54 million Americans amounts to just over $ 1,400 (1,260 euros) per month per retiree. We start with 61% of our last income after taxes if we earn half the average American salary, but this figure collapses to 43% if we earn 1.5 times this average salary (around 70% in France, according to OECD). The full retirement age is 66, with a maximum pension of $ 2,860. At a total cost of nearly $ 900 billion, Social Security is funded by a 12.4% payroll tax. Those who leave at age 62 lose a quarter of their pension, those who stay until age 70 increase it by 30%. Financially, an optimal departure is around 65, the age at which Americans can benefit from the Medicare public health system.
It was believed that the United States was a funded retirement paradise. It is not completely accurate. According to a survey by Harris for the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, retirees report that 61% of their income comes from their public retirement, 14% from defined benefit corporate pensions and only 10% from their funded pension funds , the famous “401 (k)”, where from 60 years of age you get the proceeds of your savings.
