February 2026
20Feb

The Shift from Traditional Pensions to 401(k)s: Retirement Risks and the Timing of Retirement

By Rosemary Kaiser, Xiaohui sun & Yang Xuan U.S. retirement plans have shifted sharply from defined benefit to defined contribution setups. How has this change affected retirement and savings behavior? We develop a quantitative life-cycle model where retirement plans differ in their exposure to longevity and investment risk. Holding the present-value cost of benefits fixed, these differences generate distinct savings and retirement incentives across plan types. The model replicates observed differences in savings and retirement behavior and implies that the...

February 20, 2026
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November 2025
28Nov

Retirement Planning among Female Workforce in Malaysia and China

By Jing Yuan, Kim Mee Chong, Ivy Siaw Hung Hii & Hao Lun Li A phenomenon has emerged whereby the life expectancy of women is 74.2 years, and men's is 69.8 years. Hence, it is crucial to encourage early retirement planning among women.  This study aims to explore the factors that influence retirement planning awareness and readiness among women in Malaysia and China. A self-administered online questionnaire was completed by 100 Malaysians and 200 Chinese. Using IBM SPSS and SmartPLS,...

November 28, 2025
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August 2025
29Aug

Financial Literacy and Educator Behaviour: Insights from a Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

By Anrusha Bhana & Nkosinathi Princ Jali There is a substantial lack of financial literacy among educators, especially in emerging economies, which can influence personal and professional financial behavior. This study assessed whether financial literacy challenges influence high school educators' financial decision-making and behavior. An empirical study employing quantitative methodology assessed the lifestyle spending among high school educators and identified specific areas of financial literacy challenges and limitations. Data was collected randomly from a sample size of 246 out of...

August 29, 2025
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28Aug

Financial regret at older ages and longevity awareness

By Abigail Hurwitz & Olivia S. Mitchell To investigate financial regret among older Americans, we conduct a controlled experiment in the Health and Retirement Study. We document that many older people regret not having bought longevity protection or long-term care insurance, as well as having retired and claimed social security benefits too early. This is especially true for women, Black, and less wealthy older individuals. Additionally, we find that informing participants about objective survival probabilities boosts regret by 43% regarding not...

August 28, 2025
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July 2025
11Jul

Roadmap for Retirement: The Case for a National Pension Dashboard

By Kathryn Bush Retirement planning is getting harder for Canadians as more savings shift to definedcontribution plans, and account information is scattered across institutions. Given current financial literacy levels in Canada, many people struggle to understand what they'll have to live on in retirement. A pension dashboard could help by bringing all their retirement savings and benefits into one place. A pension dashboard is a government or government-sanctioned online tool that shows individuals all their retirement income sources-including government benefits,...

July 11, 2025
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June 2025
13Jun

Retired for how long? Worker expectations for how long they’ll live in retirement

By Paul J. Yakoboski,  Annamaria Lusardi & Andrea Sticha The influence of perceptions is noteworthy given that one-third of adults underestimate general life expectancy among 65-year-olds (and an additional one-quarter respond “don’t know” when asked). Workers who expect relatively short lifespans due to misperceptions about general life expectancy are at risk of accumulating inadequate financial resources for retirement. Their retirement planning horizon is “too short.” In addition, those with shorter expected lifespans appear less likely to plan and save for retirement. For example, about...

June 13, 2025
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May 2025
30May

Annual survey on financial incentives for retirement savings. Country profiles 2024

By Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Countries provide financial incentives to encourage individuals to save for retirement in asset-backed pension plans. Financial incentives for retirement savings can take the form of tax incentives, which are indirect subsidies through the tax code, or non-tax incentives, which are direct government payments into pension accounts. This annual survey provides an overview of the tax treatment of retirement savings and covers non-tax incentives to promote retirement savings in OECD countries and four accession...

May 30, 2025
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March 2025
14Mar

2024 financial services monitor know better do better

By Old Mutual The key objective of the Old Mutual Financial Services Monitor is to provide a deep understanding of the working Ghanaian market, uncovering financial attitudes, perceptions, and behaviour in the informal and formal sectors. What makes Old Mutual’s Financial Services Monitor unique, is that its core objective is to support Old Mutual’s drive to champion the financial well-being of Ghanaians. This is aligned to Old Mutual’s overall purpose of becoming our customers’ first choice to sustain, grow and protect...

March 14, 2025
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February 2025
14Feb

The effect of Covid pension withdrawals and the Universal Guaranteed Pension on the income of future retirees in Chile

By Carlos Madeira Chile implemented large pension withdrawals during the Covid pandemic. Afterwards, Chile increased non contributory beneÖts in a quasi-universal scheme. Simulating future pensions, I show that the average loss in contributory pension income is 27.9%, with losses of 23.9% and 31.4% for men and women, respectively. After accounting for public transfers, the average loss in total pension income is just 6.2%, with losses of 7.5% and 5.2% for men and women, respectively. Current retirees lost just 1.1% of...

February 14, 2025
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07Feb

Smaller than We Thought? The Effect of Automatic Savings Policies

By James J. Choi, David Laibson, Jordan Cammarota, Richard Lombardo & John Beshears Medium- and long-run dynamics undermine the effect of automatic enrollment and default savings-rate auto-escalation on retirement savings. Our analysis of nine 401(k) plans incorporates the facts that employees frequently leave firms (often before matching contributions from their employer have fully vested), a large percentage of 401(k) balances are withdrawn upon employment separation, and many employees opt out of auto-escalation. Steady-state saving rates increase by 0.6% of income due to automatic enrollment and...

February 7, 2025
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