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Years ago, I volunteered teaching financial literacy at a women’s homeless shelter. I may have a doctorate in economics, but I was pretty useless. Being poor in America requires making many complex financial decisions involving details of government benefits that I don’t know much about.
Still, I like to think I was of some use when it came to retirement saving, which is my specialty. I was surprised how many of the women had money in a retirement account from a former job. I gently suggested they make what is called a hardship withdrawal, get out of the shelter, and stop worrying so much about retirement. They were resistant. Saving for retirement is important, they told me.
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.