July 2025
18Jul

When Uncertainties Matter: the Causal Effect of Cryptocurrency Investment on Retirement Hardship Withdrawals

By Zefeng Bai, Pengcheng Wang & hengwei zhang Cryptocurrencies are invested in by approximately 15% of U.S. households. However, the high volatility of these assets poses substantial financial risks, particularly as 40% of U.S. households already face potential retirement shortages. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the impact of cryptocurrency investment on retirement borrowing. Our causal analysis of 1,912 respondents revealed that cryptocurrency investors are 7.4% more likely to make a hardship withdrawal from their retirement accounts. This study provides...

July 18, 2025
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17Jul

US. Trump could open up your 401(k) to private equity. Why market experts say it’s a bad idea.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump is expected to sign an executive order in the coming days allowing 401(k) plans to invest their assets in private equity. It's a proposal that's raising red flags among some investment experts, who say a 401(k) should typically be a simple and relatively low-risk investment vehicle. Private equity investments, meanwhile, are often concentrated in a small number of portfolio companies, illiquid, and carry valuations that can be difficult to measure day-to-day....

July 17, 2025
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16Jul

PRT Market Momentum Expected to Continue

Pension risk transfers will be among the fastest-growing product lines in the life insurance sector, J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. found in its June 27 “North America Equity Research” report. According to the firm, many U.S. private sector employers that froze and/or closed their defined benefit pension plans as a benefit for employees more than a decade ago still have legacy plans, totaling $3.2 trillion in assets. Many firms have shifted their DB liabilities to insurers through PRT transactions. The PRT market...

July 16, 2025
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15Jul

Retirement Then, Now, and Next

By Teresa Ghilarducci & The SCEPA Team  Late Baby Boomers (age 59-67), Generation X (age 43-58) and Millennials (age 27-42) are retiring under much worse conditions than Early Baby Boomers (between age 68-76 in 2022). This fact gets obscured by research that paints an optimistic picture of retirement security that only really existed for Early Baby Boomers. Later generations have been impacted by changes to the conditions of retirement that Early Baby Boomers did not experience. This includes: the shift...

July 15, 2025
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15Jul

Funded Status of U.S. Corporate Pension Plans Rose Again in June

Strong investment returns for both equities and bonds drove pension fund investments higher and funding levels for U.S. corporate pensions improved in June for the third consecutive month. The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit pension plans increased to 105.1% from 104.9% and improved by $3 billion in the month, according to Milliman’s June Pension Funding Index. In May, a decrease in liabilities, due to higher bond yields, drove up pension funding. In June, “liabilities actually increased because...

July 15, 2025
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11Jul

US. How Much Should You Have Saved for Retirement If You Live To 100

Planning for retirement requires an effective strategy that covers everything, including inflation, long-term healthcare, vacations, debt, the uncertainty of Social Security, taxes, the unexpected and living expenses. What makes it even more challenging is people are now outliving their savings because life expectancy is longer. According to a new survey from Allianz Life, 64% of Americans, mostly Gen Xers, worry more about not having enough money to cover their lifetime than they worry about dying. While many fear about running out of...

July 11, 2025
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10Jul

US. 7 Things Retirees Need To Know About the Big Beautiful Bill Act

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law by President Donald Trump over the July 4, 2025, weekend, is a sweeping multitrillion-dollar package that blends tax cuts with significant spending reductions and changes to the social safety net.1 For retirees, the new law brings both opportunities and uncertainties—from temporary tax relief on Social Security benefits to potential changes in required retirement distributions. While some provisions offer immediate benefits, others create planning challenges that could affect retirement strategies for years to come....

July 10, 2025
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10Jul

US. NYC pensions seek partners to expand place-based investments

New York City’s Bureau of Asset Management is in talks with fund managers and other possible partners to expand place-based investments by the city’s five pension funds, according to Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, deputy chief investment officer for responsible investing at BAM. “I’ve had meetings with four other entities based in the New York area that have a strong interest in this type of investment,” Red-Horse said last month at a committee meeting of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System...

July 10, 2025
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09Jul

US. Retirement Industry Responds to Passage of ‘Big Beautiful Bill’

The retirement industry has raised few qualms about the passage of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” but President Donald Trump’s key legislation gives the sector little to shout about, industry sources say. The new law does expand health savings accounts and makes some good on Trump’s campaign promise to not tax Social Security—it instead provides a temporary expanded deduction of up to $6,000 for those 65 or older if they make less than $75,000 per year (or less than $150,000 for...

July 9, 2025
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07Jul

US. What’s in your 401(k)? Why boomers and Gen X really need to know.

Your target-date fund might have the wrong mix for you, and new alternatives could be risky As stock and bond markets have whipsawed this year, you may be afraid to look at your 401(k) account balance. But all of the volatility actually makes this an opportune time to look under the hood of your 401(k) if you're nearing retirement or already there. The conventional retirement-investing advice is to "set it and forget it" - but at this stage of life, you...

July 7, 2025
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