Simplified disclosures can make comparisons between complex financial products easier, and increase consumer expertise. We use incentivized experiments to investigate whether and to what extent simpler information on fees and investment returns assists retirement plan members to make competent...

We examine the behavior of members of an industry-wide pension fund to assess both the prevalence of defaults and their impact on retirement savings. Our empirical investigations show that preferences, demographic characteristics and labor mobility matter greatly when it comes to the low active...

We combine survey data from retirement plan members with information from interviews with plan executives to get both perspectives on who accepts the default plan and default investment option and why. We use a natural experiment in default construction where a new regulatory framework required...

Default investment options in retirement plans are a potent influence on member choice. Little is known about how plans set them. We investigate how retirement plan providers choose default investment strategies for passive members. We interview plan executives and survey members during a review...

We conduct a choice experiment to investigate the impact of the financial crisis of 2008 on retirement saver investment choice and risk aversion. Analysis of estimated individual risk parameters shows a small increase in mean risk aversion between the relatively tranquil period of early 2007 and...

We report the results of two laboratory experiments that study how university student and staff participants chose retirement savings investment options using ‘user-friendly' information prescribed by regulators. We demonstrate that choices of more than 20% of participants cannot be predicted...

Effective design and regulation of retirement benefits require accurate understanding of how the elderly decumulate. We analyse the income, assets and decumulation patterns of a longitudinal panel of 10,000 Australian age pensioners. On average, age pensioners preserve financial and residential...