Ben Bernanke this week made some interesting comments that should be of interest to savers, and therefore to BankShout readers in general. The Federal Reserve Chairman made some remarks regarding U.S. fiscal policy, straying from the Fed’s normal focus on monetary policy. According to news articles like this one in the New York Times, Bernanke talked about the coming changes that will be necessary as a large portion of the public ages and retires.

At a Dallas Chamber of Commerce event, B-Bern described a future where policy-makers will need to choose between higher taxes, less entitlements like social security, and cutting spending. “The choices are difficult…until they cannot be put off anymore.” Bernanke also talked about allowing “too big to fail” firms to indeed fail, which would put those losses on that company’s shareholders and creditors, not taxpayers in general.

I like to follow Bernanke’s comments closely. You can’t separate Federal Reserve policy from banking loan and deposit rates, nor from U.S. equity markets. If the Fed doesn’t have direct say in fiscal policy, it still has influence, and there is little doubt that President Obama’s economic advisors’ ears pricked up at Bernanke’s comments.

For our BankShout readers, my suggestion is to constantly keep your eyes on the political headlines and the rhetoric coming out of Washington. If you are retiring soon, especially if you are going to try to do so in the next decade or so, you’ll need to have some semblance of whether to rely mainly on deposit rates plus social security, or to more heavily lean on equities and learn to tolerate a bit more risk in your portfolio. I can’t tell you how to invest, but this blog can help you to sort out the best deals at banks and brokers. Adding some public policy wisdom will aid you that much more in getting where you want to be, financially.

Comments on Bernanke’s comments? Remarks about your own retirement strategy? Let us know, and comment below!