Popular financial advice often suggests that households should aim to replace between 65 and 85 percent of pre-retirement income in retirement in order to maintain their pre-retirement living standards. Some households can achieve replacement rates that are in the recommended range through...

A popular proposal for reforming Social Security is to supplement or replace traditional publicly financed benefits with a new system of mandatory, defined contribution private pensions. Proponents claim that private plans offer better returns than traditional Social Security. To achieve higher...

In 1998, the Swedish Parliament passed pension legislation that transformed Sweden's Social Security system to a Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) plan 3/4 that is, a defined contribution plan financed on a pay-as-you-go basis. In addition, the legislature established a second tier of funded...

As baby boomers approach retirement, individuals and policymakers are increasingly concerned about retirement income security. Thanks to dramatic advances in life expectancy over the last century, today's typical 65-year old man and woman can expect, on average, to live to ages 81 and 85...

The Social Security earnings test is one of the least popular features of Social Security. It also is one of the most widely misunderstood. This issue in brief discusses how the earnings test functions and examines options for reform.

Over the long term, stocks have earned a higher rate of return than Treasury bonds. Therefore, many recent proposals to reform Social Security include a stock investment component. In evaluating these proposals, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Actuary(OACT) has generally...