Due to a changing retirement landscape, many baby boomers are likely to have insufficient resources for a secure retirement.1 One potential source that could improve their situation is inheritances. This study quantifies the aggregate amount of inheritances that baby boomers – those...

Due to a changing retirement landscape, many baby boomers are likely to have insufficient resources for a secure retirement. One potential source that could improve their situation is inheritances. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances and the Health and Retirement Study, this study...

Due to a changing retirement landscape, many baby boomers are likely to have insufficient resources for a secure retirement. One potential source that could improve their situation is inheritances. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances and the Health and Retirement Study, this study...

The majority of retirement savings is invested in cor-porate equity, attracted by the historically high average returns offered by stocks. But substantial risk also accompanies investments in stocks, a risk that seems especially costly after the recent financial crisis. Not only did the value of...

More than half of households’ retirement savings are invested in stocks. During the recent financial crisis, stocks lost more than one-half their market value from the fall of 2007 to their lows in the spring of 2009. Since the trough in the market, stock prices have risen to nearly 85 percent...

This study calculates the impact of federal income taxes on the progressivity of the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) program. It uses the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data linked with the Social Security Earnings Records to estimate OASI contributions and benefits for individuals and...

Policymakers have designed Social Security to be a progressive retirement program that replaces a larger share of monthly earnings for low- and middle-income workers than for high earners. However, previous research has found that, although the Disability Insurance (DI) component of Social...

Increasingly, employers who provide their employees with a retirement plan are relying on 401(k) and similar defined contribution plans instead of defined benefit plans. As a result, participants are paying more of the cost of managing their pension plans, which can take a substantial toll on...