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…
Retirement planning often emphasizes market, health, and longevity risks, but being part of a family introduces other risks: changes in family structure, such as divorce and widowhood, and financial support for adult children and aging parents…
Since the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, AI’s potential impact on labor markets has been a growing worry. This concern has centered on the replacement of workers, with a special focus on younger…
In my most recent Risking Old Age in America podcast, I talk with Nicole Jorwic, Chief Program Officer for Caring...
Nearly 70 percent of U.S. GDP comes from consumers. What happens when they stop spending? Lately, I’ve noticed that the...
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
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Until recently, economic researchers were cheering an encouraging trend: Older Americans were staying in the labor force longer and waiting longer to claim their Social Security benefits…
THE HILL
The federal program is poised to run out of funds by 2032, triggering a 22-percent cut in benefits for tens of millions of Americans unless lawmakers act.