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…
Employer-sponsored retirement plans – such as 401(k)s – offer a convenient way for workers to save through contributions deducted from their paycheck. Yet, many private sector workers lack access to an employer plan. In recent years, a number of states have aimed to give such workers a payroll-based savings option by requiring employers to either…
Social Security was designed to replace wages for those no longer working, so claiming Social Security benefits is often used as a simple proxy for retirement. However, trends in employment at older ages cast some doubt on this assumption: many households over 65 report labor earnings as well as Social Security income, indicating that…
I recently attended the joint Leading Age and Global Ageing Network conference in Boston. Leading Age is the trade association of the nonprofit elder...
What “unretirements” can tell us about the job market. These days, economists find themselves in a fog with respect to...
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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
FINANCIAL PLANNING
Childhood hardships can cast a long shadow over a person’s finances.
YAHOO FINANCE
Claiming Social Security while still working isn’t an outlier these days.