December 2023
08Dec

The Relationship between Retirement Adjustment and Personality Traits Among Elderly in Gamo Zone, Ethiopia

By Fekadu Mekuria Deme & Girma Gura Ayele The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between retirement adjustment and personality traits among elderly. The study was conducted on 356 retired public servants aged 60 and above residing in Gamo zone, Southern Ethiopia. The study employed a correlational research design. A demographic questionnaire prepared by the researchers and 3 adapted instruments were used to collect the data. The data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The...

December 8, 2023
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September 2023
22Sep

Motivated Saving: The Impact of Projections on Retirement Contributions

By George Smyrnis, Hazel Bateman, Loretti Dobrescu, Ben R. Newell & Susan Thorp Projections of future benefits can assist pension plan participants prepare for retirement. Here we measure the effects of projections of retirement incomes and lump sum balances on voluntary contributions and plan interactions of retirement savers. Data from a two-year field trial in a large Australian pension plan show that the frequency and average amount of participants’ voluntary contributions and interactions with the plan rose significantly in the...

September 22, 2023
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July 2023
07Jul

Illusory Policy Implications of Behavioral Law & Economics

By Terrance O’Reilly Behavioral law and economics has achieved notable policy influence promoting soft paternalism—using nudges to encourage better choices without limiting options. Recently, some behavioral scholars have suggested that positive behavioral models actually support hard paternalism—imposing mandates. This article challenges the insinuation that behavioral law and economics supports mandates. Despite regular suggestions to the contrary, positive economic models do not entail distinct normative consequences. The article illustrates its thesis in the case of retirement savings, a key concern of behavioral...

July 7, 2023
Articles, Regulation, , ,
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November 2022
11Nov

UK. Ten years of Automatic Enrolment achieves over £114bn pension savings

In 2021, employees across the UK saved £114.6 billion into their pensions. This is a real terms increase of £32.9 billion compared to 2012, when Automatic Enrolment was introduced. The figures reveal how the policy has transformed pensions saving over the last ten years for people from Sterling to Southend, by normalising workplace pension saving, establishing a culture of retirement saving for a new generation, and helping foster a greater sense of security in later life. More than 10.7 million employees...

November 11, 2022
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October 2021
07Oct

Temporal Reframing of Recurring Savings Reduces Perceived Pain and Helps Those with Lower Financial Literacy to Save

By Stephen Shu Steve Thomas & David A. Smith While assessments of the Gig Economy vary in terms of size, growth, and heterogeneity, most studies suggest that this segment of the economy is sizeable, growing, and diverse in terms of types of work. Some concerns in the literature include both the present and future welfare of workers in the Gig Economy. More granular, temporal reframing of savings (e.g., save $5 a day versus $150 a month) has been shown to...

October 7, 2021
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September 2021
30Sep

Do Tax Deferred Accounts Improve Lifecycle Savings? Experimental Evidence

By John Duffy, Yue Li Tax deferred accounts (TDAs) are an increasingly popular method of saving for retirement, and have become common across many developed countries. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether TDAs actually improve a household's lifecycle savings behavior and retirement preparedness because it is difficult to perform a counterfactual analysis. Households always have other means of savings so there is no guarantee that a TDA, with its inflexible restriction that funds cannot be drawn until retirement, will be attractive...

September 30, 2021
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24Sep

Progressive Pensions as an Incentive for Labor Force Participation

By Fabian Kindermann, Veronika Pueschel In this paper, we challenge the conventional idea that an increase in the progressivity of old-age pensions unanimously distorts the labor supply decision of households. So far, the literature has argued that higher pension progressivity leads to more redistribution and insurance provision on the one hand, but increases implicit taxes and therefore distorts labor supply choices on the other. In contrast, we show that a well-designed reform of the pension system has the potential to...

September 24, 2021
Adequacy, Articles, Pension design, ,
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June 2021
30Jun

UK. Research highlights Brits’ lack of interest in pensions

More than half (55 per cent) of Britons do not look for pensions information from any source, according to research from Infinite Global and YouGov. A report launched by the duo, titled Pensions: Solving the Perception Puzzle, called for the information problem to be addressed through the simplification of pensions material, and beseeched those within the provider and advisory community to engage with the media on a more human level, rather than “only focusing on technical subject matter”. Among 18-24 year-olds, the...

June 30, 2021
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April 2021
01Apr

Reference Points for Retirement Behavior: Evidence from German Pension Discontinuities

By Arthur Seibold This paper documents and analyzes an important and puzzling stylized fact about retirement behavior: the large concentration of job exits at specific ages. In Germany, almost 30% of workers retire precisely in the month when they reach one of three statutory retirement ages, although there is often no incentive or even a disincentive to retire at these thresholds. To study what can explain the concentration of retirements around statutory ages, I use novel administrative data covering the...

April 1, 2021
Aging, Articles, Pension design, , ,
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November 2020

12Nov

Factors Associated with the Ownership of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs): Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior

By Frank Magwegwe Despite the importance of retirement savings, many individuals retire with lack of adequate retirement savings. Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior, we developed a model in which psychological factors influence the calculation of retirement savings needs, which in turn influences the ownership of independent retirement accounts. The results showed that favorable attitudes, strong social norms, and perceived behavioral control are associated with calculating retirement savings needs. Also, calculating retirement savings needs as well as perceived behavioral...

November 12, 2020
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