Under standard assumptions, both individuals and the government are indifferent between traditional tax-deferred retirement accounts and “front-loaded” (Roth) accounts. When we add investment fees to this benchmark, individuals are still indifferent but the government is not. We estimate...

How might retirees consider deploying the retirement assets accumulated in a defined contribution pension plan? One possibility would be to purchase an immediate annuity. Another approach, called the 'phased withdrawal' strategy in the literature, would have the retiree invest his funds and then...

This article calls attention to the Department of Labor's imposition of the “prudent investor rule” on financial advisers to retirement savers. The article also canvasses the customary role of an investment policy statement in promoting compliance with the prudent investor rule by...

Americans now hold trillions of dollars in individual retirement savings accounts, raising concerns about conflicts of interest among financial advisers who provide advice to retirement savers. Prompted by these concerns, in April 2016 the Department of Labor promulgated a rule that imposes on...

We explore a new channel to attract inflows using a unique dataset of corporate 401(k) retirement plans and their mutual fund family trustees. Families secure substantial inflows by attracting 401(k) plan assets through being trustee. This affords the plan sponsor potential influence on the...

• We offer the first empirical exploration of fixed indexed annuity returns based upon actual contracts that were sold and actual interest that was credited.• Annuity returns have been competitive with alternative portfolios of stocks and bonds.• Their design has limited the downside...

Over the life-cycle, wealth holdings tend to be highest in the early part of retirement. The quality of financial decisions among older adults is therefore an important determinant of their financial security during the asset drawdown phase. This paper assesses how financial literacy shapes...

This paper examines how workers allocated their contributions and assets in their employer-sponsored retirement savings plans within the TIAA system over the 2012 to 2018 period. Consistent with previous research, we find that Lifecycle funds, an auto-diversified target-date fund with an...

Financial literacy in Singapore has not been analyzed in much detail, despite the fact that this is one of the world's most rapidly aging nations. Using the Singapore Life Panel®, we explore older Singaporeans' levels of financial knowledge and compare them to those observed in the United...

This paper discusses the likelihood of a family head's participation in a retirement plan as it relates to plan type, employer size, and industry, and also examines asset allocation among 401(k)-type plan participants, defined benefit plan participants, and IRA owners