The brief’s key findings are: The COVID recession brought the economy to a halt, but households got robust government support and asset markets soared during 2020-2021. Overall, balance sheets showed some improvements during this period: high-wealth households saw rapid asset growth from the booming markets; and those in the middle got market gains and a boost from…
Introduction While Social Security provides those ages 62 and older with a predictable stream of income, most households need other resources as well for a secure retirement. The bulk of these other resources come from employer-sponsored retirement plans, although more affluent households may save additional amounts on their own. With the shift from traditional defined…
This paper compares how Black and White workers with stable jobs fare after an unemployment shock. Using administrative earnings data from the Continuous Work History Sample, the analysis compares the earnings trajectories of Black and White workers who are displaced during three recessions (1990-1991; 2000-2001; and 2008-2009)…
We have a housing crisis in the United States that has as much to do with the types of housing...
We, too, should restore balance to our system, but inequality precludes an across-the-board increase. Denmark recently raised its retirement age...
FEATURED
CLOSING THE COVERAGE GAP
By Andrew G. Biggs, Alicia H. Munnell and Anqi Chen
The brief’s key findings are: 401(k)s/IRAs have the potential to provide significant wealth. But a typical 60-year-old with a 401(k) in 2016 had less than $100,000 compared to a potential $360,000 in combined 401(k)/IRA assets. Four factors could explain this gap: the immaturity of the 401(k) system, the lack of universal coverage, leakages, and fees…
Associate Director of State & Local Research
Associate Director of Retirement Plans and Finance Jean-Pierre Aubry is associate director of retirement plans and finance at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. He oversees and conducts research and data collection, develops new analytic techniques for evaluating retirement plans, and secures funding support. Aubry is recognized as a leading expert on stat…
By Kim Blanton
With so many Americans in the dark about how to prepare for retirement, educating them about why it’s critical to save seems an obvious way to tackle this problem. But very few solid studies prove that financial education actually works. This field research should be counted as a positive result for a modest, low-cost financia…
The next Retirement and Disability Research Consortium Meeting will be held virtually on August 3-4, 2023. This free and public event showcases the latest in retirement and disability research from the nation’s top scholars.
CRR IN THE NEWS
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Getting laid off is challenging. Getting laid off later in life is especially so.
USA TODAY
Most Americans think Medicare covers long-term care, the regimen of daily help that many seniors will eventually require. It does not.