Trump Accounts will not directly improve retirement savings among women. An expert said there may be an indirect benefit. That expert did not explain what indirect means or how it works or why anyone should care.
The retirement savings gap exists because women earn less money over their lifetimes. They also live longer. They take time off to raise children. They work part-time jobs more often. They get promoted less frequently. Trump Accounts will not fix any of these problems directly. But indirectly? Sure. Why not. Indirectly could mean anything.
Indirect is the word you use when you have nothing to say but need to fill a quote. It's the financial equivalent of thoughts and prayers. It means we acknowledge the problem exists and we're choosing to do absolutely nothing about it except create a tax-advantaged account that will primarily benefit people who already have money to save.
Women facing a retirement savings gap do not need indirect benefits. They need direct deposits. They need higher wages. They need affordable childcare. They need employers who don't penalize them for having a uterus. What they're getting instead is a savings vehicle named after a guy who paid a porn star hush money and called it a legal expense.
The indirect benefit is probably that Trump Accounts might encourage more overall retirement savings and some women will participate in that increase and therefore indirectly benefit from a policy that was not designed with them in mind at all. That's not a benefit. That's statistical noise with a press release.
Retail traders will hear "Trump Accounts" and "women's retirement" and assume this is finally their chance to close the gender wealth gap by buying leveraged ETFs in their Robinhood account. They will lose money directly.
Photo by Gio Bartlett on Unsplash
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