Medical and long-term care costs represent a substantial uninsured risk for most retired households. In 2007, spending on Medicare premiums and copayments among married couples age 65 and over averaged $7,600. But such statistics are of limited value to households trying to determine how much to...

The stock market crash of 2008 significantly dimmed the retirement prospects of workers approaching retirement. These workers are heavily dependent on 401(k) plans, as opposed to traditional defined benefit pensions, as a source of retirement income. During the economic downturn, these plans...

The impact of the financial crisis on the retirement savings of the Early Baby Boomers has received considerable attention. Indeed, from the peak of the market in 2007 to the trough in March 2009, these Early Boomers lost a lot of money - $1 trillion. But they have already recovered roughly half...

Increasingly, employers who provide their employees with a retirement plan are relying on 401(k) and similar defined contribution plans instead of defined benefit plans. As a result, participants are paying more of the cost of managing their pension plans, which can take a substantial toll on...

The move toward universal health coverage in the United States is likely to impact the labor force deci­sions of older workers, but the size and direction of the effect is unclear. On the one hand, access to affordable insurance that is not tied to an employer may reduce work by encouraging...

The employer match of employee contributions is an important characteristic of 401(k) plans. The match was designed to encourage participation and contributions ñ particularly by lower-paid employees. However, at many companies, the employer match became a casualty of the financial collapse and...

Employer-sponsored pensions are an important source of retirement income and often make the difference between having a comfortable retirement and just scraping by. Over the past two decades, pension sponsorship and participation have remained relatively constant. At any given point in time,...

The 2010 Trustees Report had no surprises - Social Security still faces a modest deficit of 2% of payroll, which is newsworthy given the economic crisis. The recession has had some shorter-term effects: 1) prices are still below their 2008 levels, so beneficiaries are not expected to receive a...

The Obama Administration has proposed "Autho-IRAs" to boost pension coverage among those not currently offered a plan. Such a policy is seen to offer great potential, given that 60% of low-income workers currently offered a 401(k) choose to participate. However, these low-income workers with...

Pension plan sponsors in the Netherlands are facing their second funding challenge in the past decade, this one more severe than the first. Following the economic crash in 2008 - 2009, the funding levels of most plans fell below the 105 % threshold set by the Dutch supervisor, De Nederlandsche...