America, Welcome to the Poorhouse: What You Must Do to Protect Your Financial Future and the Reform We Need »

Jane White is Founder and President of Retirement Solutions, LLC, which promotes 401(k) reform and provides investment education. In 2007, at the U.S. Department of Labor’s invitation, White presented recommended 401(k) contribution rates to the ERISA Advisory Council. As a result of White’s testimony, the Working Group on Financial Literacy recommended that the DOL “encourage plan communication that uses income replacement formulas and final pay multiples.” A Congressionally appointed delegate to the 2002 National Summit on Retirement Savings, White first observed the 401(k) savings crisis in 1993 as associate editor of Standard & Poor’s Your Financial Future, distributed to a half a million 401(k) participants.

A former syndicated personal finance columnist for Gannett News Service, White first observed the housing bubble and the risk of adjustable rate mortgages in her 1991 book, The Cost-Conscious Homebuyer’s Guide. She has been interviewed by CNN and CNBC, and her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Barron’s, and Employee Benefit News.

“Crack open this book and enter a bromide-free zone. Jane White knows why American families feel as if they are on a treadmill running out of control, and she explains the reasons with clarity, insight, and rare honesty. She also offers several practical suggestions for how we as individuals, families, and a nation can get out of the mess. Policymakers would be wise to listen.”

Evan Cooper, Deputy Editor, InvestmentNews

“This eye-opening book sounds the alarm about many Americans’ dim financial futures if consumers, businesses, and politicians don’t change their ways. Jane White lays blame and names names. Until change happens, White offers prescriptions for your biggest money concerns—retirement, housing, college costs, and credit cards—featuring tried-and-true advice.”

Gregory Karp, Syndicated Newspaper Columnist and Author of The 1-2-3 Money Plan and Living Rich by Spending Smart

“Americans need this vigorous wake-up call if they are to make it through the first half of the 21st century. They are burying themselves in debt—for education, for homes, and for toys—leaving too little for savings and investment. Jane White shows them where they are going wrong and how they can put themselves right.”

Thomas G. Donlan, Editorial Page Editor, Barron’s National Business and Financial Weekly

“Jane White has written a barnburner of a book. Though the title may cause alarm, America, Welcome to the Poorhouse is ultimately reassuring. We can protect our own financial futures if we get wise—and get together to demand real change.”

Jacob S. Hacker, Author of The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream

Too many American families are racing toward financial catastrophe—saddled with exploding credit card and college debt, out-of-control housing costs, and underfunded 401(k) accounts.

America, Welcome to the Poorhouse reveals the political and economic forces that got us into this predicament, strategies to get Congress to enact needed reform, and practical tips you won’t find anywhere else on how to make the most of your money until reform happens. White offers indispensable practical advice for regaining control of your own financial future—specific strategies for reducing your debt, safeguarding your retirement, and helping your children get the education they’ll need to compete in today’s world.

Shrimp on the barbie, Koala bears, and a secure retirement. Why most Australians will end up with at least half a million dollars in their version of a 401(k) plan—and what we can do to transform our 401(k) plans into actual pensions.

How the mortgage industry lobbied to dismantle regulation and offer bait-and-switch adjustable rate mortgages.

How to protect yourself—no matter what happens. Your personal plan for saving for retirement, finding “bargain” colleges, and getting out of credit card debt.

How to build a citizens lobby that wins. Making taxpayers as powerful as the so-called financial services industry and getting rid of the members of Congress that do its bidding.

Publishers Weekly

White (The Cost Conscious Homebuyers Guide) paints a grim picture of America's financial future in this scathing indictment of our big banks, retirement system, mortgage brokers and legislators. White argues that middle-class families are headed for an even more disastrous financial catastrophe down the road, a result of our undersaving, overspending and overcharging ways, not to mention an excessively expensive educational system that leaves our citizens mired in debt before they've even begun earning. She explores the roots of our present woes, including underfunded 401(k)s, “bad” mortgages and unaffordable college tuition, offering such helpful advice as avoiding adjustable rate mortgages and steering clear of home improvements that don't add to your home's resale value. Despite the validity of White's tips, the consumer finance directives seem incongruous along with her pleas for legislative reform and diatribes on larger political issues. While she tries to solve too many problems—large and small, personal and political—in one volume, the tone is winning, and this book will appeal to cash-strapped, mortgage-challenged Americans who are looking for answers. (Oct.)

Introduction 1

Part I: 80% of Americans Can’t Afford to Retire

Chapter 1 Why You Can’t Retire from a 401(k) Plan: You Won’t Have Ten Times Your Salary in Your Account at Age 65 9

Chapter 2 How to Save Wisely Until We Get 401(k) Reform and How to Make Reform Happen 35

Part II: How the American Dream Turned into a Nightmare

Chapter 3 The Mortgage Mess: It Ain’t Just Subprime[md]It’s Half of Americans in Overpriced Homes 55

Chapter 4 How Laws Protect Banks, Not Borrowers, and the Reform We Need 67

Chapter 5 The Fix: Refinance to a Fixed-Rate Mortgage; Move to an Affordable Region 81

Part III: College Is Unaffordable When the Majority of Americans Need Degrees

Chapter 6 Why We Need More College Graduates to Compete with China and India 105

Chapter 7 How Sallie Mae Lobbied Congress and “Enticed” Colleges to Offer Its Loans 114

Chapter 8 The Fix: Grants, Government Loans, and Colleges that Are Free 129

Part IV: 35 Million Americans Are Drowning in Credit Card Debt

Chapter 9 How Credit Card Debt, Home Equity Loans Get You Over Your Head in Debt 141

Chapter 10 The Fix: How to Get Out of Credit Card Debtor’s Prison 151

Part V: Real Campaign Reform That Puts Citizens, Not the Business Lobby, First

Chapter 11 How Big Business Owns Both Political Parties 167

Chapter 12 The Fix: Replacing Corrupt Politicians with Ones Who Work for Taxpayers 177

Conclusion The Big Fix: Recruit the Smartest Workers from Around the World, Send Most Kids to College, Measure Household Wealth 191

Endnotes 205

Index 237