We examine the effects of a 2012 regulatory reform that mandated fee and performance disclosures for the investment options in 401(k) plans. We show that participants became significantly more attentive to expense ratios and short-term performance after the reform. The disclosure effects are...

Advanced countries worry about the future of their pay-as-you go pension schemes and try to introduce supplementary sources for revenue following employment termination. It is thus useful to understand how the pension schemes influence households behavior regarding saving and accumulation of...

In this paper, various option pricing models are used to provide analytical solutions to valuing defined pension liabilities (or securitised parts of pension liabilities) in incomplete markets. Unlike when markets are complete, there is not a single arbitrage-free price for liabilities but...

Administration of defined contribution retirement plans is generally outsourced by plan sponsors to third-party financial institutions, resulting in two primary types of plan fees. While investment fund fees in defined contribution plans have been heavily scrutinized, the administrative fees...

The dramatic shift from traditional pension plans to participant-directed 401(k) plans has increased the decision-making responsibility of individual investors for their own retirement planning. With this shift comes increasing evidence that investors are making poor decisions in choosing how...

This paper investigates individuals' investment behaviour in their retirement savings surrounding milestone birthday ages. Age is expected to play a key role in influencing investment choices, primarily through the risk of the investment strategy reflected in the asset allocation. Less clear is...

While increased financial literacy may improve individual retirement savings decisions, modifying the placement of key information in retirement savings statements can produce further improvements. We examined the extent to which placement of information and financial literacy affected the...

Consumer demand and regulatory changes in the UK, is driving growth of innovative solutions that are easier to use, simpler to understand, offer good value for money, and create better customer outcomes. A key tool in this growing sector are asset allocation funds such as Target Date Funds...