End Paper sAm GuttermAn
from Generation to Generation
When I WaS In hIGh SChooL, I entered an essay contest (which
I didn’t win) that forced me to focus on my relationships with my
parents and grandparents. My essay’s theme was that parents should
honor their children (much as children are enjoined to honor their
parents in the Ten Commandments), because children represent a
family's future. While this doesn't diminish the need to honor earlier gen-
erations and history, if push comes to shove, I argued, isn’t it more impor-
tant to ensure proper groundwork for the future than to look backward?
youth_education.shtml). I would hope
that we will all continue to contribute to
our communities in some way.
The promotion of greater intergenerational respect is a worthy goal. This
means making available needed security
benefits without creating overdependence, and providing incentives that
encourage the best use of all of our human resources. These issues, including
the promotion of personal responsibility for retirement security, need to
be dealt with in a sound and fiscally
prudent manner that reflects concern for each generation.
yes, we must honor our parents’
generation. But we must also keep
in mind the generations that come
after us. Just as we respect and support our parents and grandparents
through appropriate retirement
benefits and care, we can’t ignore
our duty to younger and even unborn generations.
Watching my father Skype with
his great-grandson, I was reminded that we owe it to our kids and
grandkids to leave them with as
good a life as (if not better than)
the one we have enjoyed. I hear about
too many 20-year-olds who are struggling with unemployment and a lack of
independence. We baby boomers (and
the generation immediately following
us) need to leave them with a sound
economy. We shouldn’t leave them with
the prospect of a lifetime of indebtedness because of our overconsumption.
We need to ensure them a system that
will allow them to succeed (and, maybe,
fail), protected by a sound social safety
net that doesn’t create an atmosphere of
dependence, a sustainable environment
and climate, and an effective and affordable health care system.
sAm GuttermAn is director
and consulting actuary with
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in Chicago.
While staying with my father,
Morris Gutterman, in Clearwater,
Fla., last month, I had yet another occasion to reflect on the relationship
between generations. My father, now
97, is still paying back society for what
it earlier had given him. I’ve written
before about his volunteer work in local schools (“A Tribute to My Father,”
November/December 2005
Contingencies), teaching bright third and
fourth graders logical and systematic
planning (as well as small motor skills)
through the medium of LEGO building blocks. Observing him in action
during my recent visit, I was again
reminded of how proud I was of him.
A couple of related actuarial issues also came to mind. The gradual
trend toward working later (although
not necessarily to the age of 97) has
continued over recent years. There are
several reasons for this—the population
as a whole is healthier longer, the jobs
people hold if they are working longer
aren’t as physically demanding as were
earlier manufacturing jobs, and many
potential retirees face inadequate personal savings and are uncertain about
the future of their social insurance
benefit payments. Whatever the reason, as long as our health expectancy
continues to improve, this is a good demographic trend.
I also thought that while providing
for long-term care benefits is certainly
an important societal goal, perhaps we
should be doing more to promote health-
ful lifestyles so that those of us who live
to 85 and beyond are better able to enjoy
the blessings of a long life.
80 continGencies JUL | AUG. 10
