The brief’s key findings are: Obtaining an employer pension involves four steps: 1) having a job; 2) working for a firm with a plan; 3) being eligible for the plan; and 4) taking up the plan. For lower-income individuals, the weakest links in this chain are a lack of employment and employment...

The brief’s key findings are: The brief’s key findings are: *Some state and local governments issue Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs) to cover their required pension contributions. *POBs offer budget relief and potential cost savings, but also carry significant risk. *POBs had a negative...

Australia’s retirement income system is regarded by some as among the best in the world. It has achieved high individual saving rates and broad coverage at reasonably low cost to the government. Australia’s system does have shortcomings. It is heavily dependent on defined contribution plans...

Employer defined benefit pension plans have long been an important component of the U.S. retirement system. Although these plans are disappearing in the private sector – replaced by 401(k)s – they remain the prevalent retirement plan arrangement in the public sector. But these public sector...

The labor force participation of men age 60-74 has increased in recent years. Since reaching a post-World War-II low point in 1993, the share of such older men either working or looking for work jumped about 11 percentage points, from 33 percent in 1993 to 44 percent in 2010. The increase came...

A recent Issue in Brief projected that, under the most likely scenario, the aggregate funded ratio for state and local pension plans will increase from 73 percent in 2012 to 81 percent in 2016. The “optimistic” and “pessimistic” scenarios assume higher or lower, but also constant, rates...

The National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI) measures the share of working-age American households “at risk” of being unable to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living in retirement. The Index is calculated by comparing households’ projected replacement rates – retirement income as...

Despite the recovery of the stock market since the financial crisis, many retirees have seen significant reductions in their wealth relative to pre crisis expectations and substantial declines in investment income due to very low short-term interest rates. What really matters, though, is the...

As a result of rollovers from 401(k) plans, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) have become the biggest form of retirement savings – bigger than 401(k)s. This development raises concerns because, compared to 401(k) regulatory safeguards, IRA investments have fewer protections. One...