As life expectancy increases and the retirement income system contracts, households face an enormous challenge in ensuring a secure retirement. Working longer is often hailed as the best way to increase retirement incomes. But some suggest that more work by older persons reduces the job...

Many workers eligible for 401(k) plans fail to par­ticipate and those who do participate often save too little. In response, policy experts have advocated auto-enrollment, in which employees are signed up at a default contribution rate unless they opt out. Over the past decade, a number of...

The United Kingdom is rolling out a broad retirement savings initiative with an objective similar to Presi­dent Obama’s recently announced “myRA” program. Both aim to encourage retirement saving among workers who do not currently participate in employer plans, typically those with average...

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...

The Social Security Trustees Report states that replacement rates for the medium earner rose from about 30 percent in the 1970s to 40 percent in the 1980s, where they remain today. However, the focus on individual earners is often misleading as many people work and retire as part of a married...

Consider this seeming paradox: when economic times are good, deaths in the United States increase. The reasons for this economic impact on mortality are not well understood, but the negative health effects of over-work, stress, and work-related behavior are often cited as culprits. However, this...

The brief’s key findings are: Older people have lower labor force participation rates than younger adults, so aging baby boomers are pushing down overall participation. This aging effect accounts for more than 40 percent of the decline since the onset of the Great Recession. An aging...

Financial planners devote considerable energy to advising Americans how to invest their retirement savings. Of course, wise investment of one’s hard-earned money is important. But the fact is that many Americans have saved very little – the typical house-hold approaching retirement has less...

The brief’s key findings are: The brief’s key findings are: *Since the financial crisis, 17 states have reduced, suspended, or eliminated cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) for public employee pensions. *This response was surprising as current employees and retirees tend to be legally...

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...