The brief’s key findings are: *Americans need to save more on their own for retirement, but human nature suggests they will focus more on day-to-day financial needs. *Analysis of a recent survey confirms that a household’s level of financial satisfaction is tied more to short-term – rather...

Subjective financial assessments are used by social scientists as a measure of financial well-being and by households as the basis for action. Financial well-being, however, increasingly requires workers to build-up savings to meet hard-to-see future needs, specifically retirement, their...

States have begun to respond to their pension challenge by enacting a mix of revenue increases and benefit cuts. These changes will, over time, improve the financial outlook for plans and help ease their impact on other budget priorities. But, to date, the specific nature and magnitude of these...

The policy option of extending mandatory Social Security coverage to newly hired uncovered state and local workers is often included in packages to eliminate the program’s financing shortfall. The arguments for mandatory coverage go beyond financial considerations, though, as extending...

The release of the Federal Reserve’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is a great opportunity to reassess Americans’ retirement preparedness as mea­sured by the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI). The NRRI shows the share of working-age house­holds who are “at risk” of being...

The brief’s key findings are: *The National Retirement Risk Index framework is used to address how much working-age households need to save for retirement. *A typical household should get a third of its retirement income from a savings plan, with the low income needing one quarter and the high...

A widespread perception is that state-local government workers receive high pension benefits which, combined with Social Security, provide more than adequate retirement income. This study uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and actuarial reports to test this hypothesis. The major finding...

The comparability of state-local versus private sector pay has become a major issue in the wake of the financial crisis. Funded levels of public pension plans declined sharply, and governments' ability to make the required contributions has been severely constrained by the collapse of...

The stock market hovers around pre-crisis peaks, tax revenues have rebounded, and plan sponsors have raised employee contributions for all workers and/ or reduced benefits for new workers, yet the funded status of state and local pension plans have once again slipped. This result reflects slow...