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…
Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), which hold over half of total private retirement assets, were introduced as a way for workers without an employer-sponsored plan to save for retirement in a tax-advantaged account. Instead, they have been primarily used as a vehicle for rollovers from employer-sponsored plans, with direct contributions…
One aspect of the pandemic that has persisted is the increased relevance of remote work. This shift could help older people with disabilities, who might otherwise find it hard to get or keep jobs. Indeed, this group has a higher employment rate post-pandemic than pre-pandemic…
With its fate hanging in the balance, it’s a good time to remember the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau arose out...
Misperceptions of long-term care needs and costs are cause for concern. Households approaching retirement face a wide variety of risks...
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
INVESTMENT NEWS
New research examines how assets in IRAs have shifted over the years, and whether the vehicles are still serving their intended purpose.
RETHINKING65
If your conversations about long-term-care costs and risks aren’t candid enough, you may not be getting through to clients.