In your editorial ("Ready or Not," March JADA), you deliver an important message about the anxieties felt by so many dentists who are nearing retirement.
You pointed to the mix of psychological and financial anxiety that accompanies retirement and reported some sobering findings from a recent JADA Question of the Month. The fact that 46 percent of responding dentists said they are not financially prepared for retirement and an additional 10 percent said they simply did not know if they were [ready] is an illuminating snapshot of how the majority of dentists feel.
Your editorial provided a sobering look at the many financial and business decisions dentists must make as they approach retirement. It also identified key trends that will undoubtedly impact the future retirement security of dentists now starting their careers.
The good news is that the ADA sponsors a retirement program—the ADA Members Retirement Program—that helps members plan for a financially secure retirement. It is designed to meet the unique needs of dentists. As of December 1999, program participants had more than $1.6 billion invested in the many investment options available. The Members Retirement Program offers full-service administration including 401(k) testing, requalification, automated 5500 filing and a wide variety of plan choices, including the new Safe Harbor 401(k) plan.
Information on this program is available on the ADA Web site at "www.ada.org" and includes a retirement planner in which any member can answer a few questions and get a calculation of what he or she needs to put aside to be ready for retirement. In addition, free information on retirement will be sent to any member who contacts the program’s administrators at 1-800-523-1125.
This is an important benefit and is one way the ADA is trying to help its members be ready and free of anxiety when retirement day does arrive, as it inevitably will.
