March 2022

The Early Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Americans’ Economic Security
10Mar

The Early Impacts of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Americans’ Economic Security

By Marco Angrisani, Jeremy Burke & Arie Kapteyn The COVID-19 pandemic has had enormous effects on the U.S. economy and may have had serious negative repercussions for many Americans’ financial stability. We use longitudinal survey data from a nationally representative internet panel, the Understanding America Study, to examine the early impacts of the pandemic and policy responses to it, on Americans’ financial stability, financial well-being, and financial behavior (as of May 2020). We find that rather than experiencing large declines, Americans’...

March 10, 2022
Articles, Retirement Security, , ,
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10Mar

The Current State of U.S. Workplace Retirement Plan Coverage

By John Sabelhaus Despite widespread support for government policies aimed at improving workplace retirement plans, nearly half of wage and salary workers in the U.S. still lack coverage. The lack of employer-sponsored pensions or other workplace retirement saving plans has led to state-level government initiatives aimed at expanding coverage to workers whose employers do not offer such plans. Designing and implementing efforts to broaden workplace retirement plan coverage requires understanding what types of workers lack coverage, in terms of both...

March 10, 2022
Articles, System Characterization, , , ,
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09Mar

US. This Is The Best Kept Secret In Retirement Planning & It’s About To Make Retirement More Expensive & Complicated

Looking past the gas pump to me on the other side, a 60-something year old woman states, “I waited a long time for this.” Jiggling the nozzle out from my tank, “What’s that?” I ask. She replies blandly, “Retirement.” Continuing, as if speaking to a larger invisible audience, she points up to the pump price sign and shakes her head saying, “With these prices, I just don’t know.” Fuel prices, and transportation costs generally, are on the rise for all of us....

March 9, 2022
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US. Funding ratio of ‘$20 billion club' rises to 93.8% in 2021
08Mar

US. Funding ratio of ‘$20 billion club’ rises to 93.8% in 2021

The average funding ratio of 19 U.S. publicly listed corporations with more than $20 billion in global pension fund liabilities totaled 93.8% at the end of 2021, up from 86.2% at the start of the year, according to a report from Russell Investments. The impressive increase in the average funding ratio for the "$20 billion club" was attributed primarily to an increase in the discount rate of about 35 basis points, said the report released Monday. Positive investment returns also contributed...

March 8, 2022
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07Mar

You Quit Your Job, but You Still Need a Retirement Plan

When she realized she wanted to quit her job at a San Francisco software company, Anna Rider was taking care of two babies: a food blog that she wanted to grow, and her actual child — the son she had five months ago. So Ms. Rider left, becoming one of the tens of millions of Americans who gave their notice in the past year and joining the cultural moment that has come to be known as the Great Resignation. She not...

March 7, 2022
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US. Already claimed Social Security? There are still ways you may be able to increase your retirement benefits
05Mar

US. Already claimed Social Security? There are still ways you may be able to increase your retirement benefits

Social Security benefits make up about 30% of elderly Americans’ incomes, according to the Social Security Administration. For some beneficiaries, it can be 90% or more. Yet many people do not think of those earned benefits, and the monthly checks that come with them, as a personal financial asset, according to Social Security expert Larry Kotlikoff, author of a new book titled “Money Magic: An Economist’s Secrets to More Money, Less Risk and a Better Life.” The money you pay into the...

March 5, 2022
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State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own
04Mar

US. State Pensions Can’t Dump Russian Investments They Don’t Even Know They Own

By Edward Siedle Across the nation politicians are naïvely calling for state pensions to dump their Russian investments to punish the country for its invasion of Ukraine. Since state pensions have in recent years agreed to let Wall Street fund managers keep secret their investment holdings, states don’t even know the Russian assets they hold. Yesterday, state Attorney General Dave Yost publicly called upon Ohio’s five public employee retirement funds to divest themselves of Russian financial holdings to further punish the...

March 4, 2022
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03Mar

A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States

By Robert L. Clark, Lee A. Craig & Jack W. Wilson Understanding the historical development of pensions is critical to the future of retirement systems around the world. A History of Public Sector Pensions in the United States offers a comprehensive assessment of the political and financial dimensions of public sector pensions from the colonial period until the emergence of modern retirement plans in the twentieth century. The authors emphasize how retirement plans can help achieve human resource objectives, how...

March 3, 2022
Books, System Characterization, System Sustainability, ,
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February 2022
25Feb

Retirees Depleting Retirement Plan Lump Sums Faster than Five Years Ago

When approaching retirement, employees are faced with a decision that can have lifelong implications: take a lump sum payment or a guaranteed monthly annuity from their employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plan. According to MetLife’s 2022 Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study℠, a growing proportion of retirees are depleting their lump sums at faster rates than previously seen. The full report is available at metlife.com/paycheckgoldstudy. Today, one in three retirees (34%) who took a lump sum from their DC plan, depleted...

February 25, 2022
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How the Pandemic Altered Americans’ Debt Burden and Retirement Readiness
24Feb

How the Pandemic Altered Americans’ Debt Burden and Retirement Readiness

By Andrea Hasler, Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell This paper analyzes Americans’ perceptions of being debt constrained. We focus on which population subgroups reported feeling most debt constrained, how this perception was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it relates to financial literacy and retirement readiness. To this end, we analyze two datasets, namely the 2020 and 2021 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index files (P-Fin Index). The evidence shows that, prior to and during the pandemic, one in...

February 24, 2022
Articles, Savings, , , ,
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