Archive: Alicia H. Munnell
Emergency expenses are eating up a lot of retirees’ money. A few months ago, a colleague asked me what I thought about annuities in 401(k) plans. Before Harvard reclaims my Ph.D., let me lay out the merits of annuities. Annuities are contracts that provide a stream of monthly payments in exchange for a premium. T…
Planning for a secure retirement is an enormous challenge – the plan must cover all of a person’s remaining years and beyond, considering their legacy. Further complicating such planning are possible shifts in the public policy environment: changes to social insurance programs can undermine the foundations of a retirement plan; changes to the tax system…
