This study calculates the impact of federal income taxes on the progressiveness 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...

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) applications and receipts vary greatly by state. This paper investigates the extent to which this geographic variation in SSDI applications reflects differences in health, demographics, and employment characteristics, state policies, and politics. We...

Using 1977-2011 data from the Current Population Survey, this paper investigates the often-repeated claim that delayed retirement by baby boomers will result in higher unemployment among the young, a claim which has been garnering increased attention from the media during the Great Recession. It...

Public sector defined benefit pension plans are based on final earnings. As such, these plans are back-loaded; those with long careers receive substantial benefits and those who leave early receive little. The analysis consists of three parts. The first section discusses the design of state and...

Financial advice tends to focus on financial assets, but other levers may be more important for most households. This paper proceeds in three stages. The first section reports a simple Excel spreadsheet exercise that provides a stylized example of the tradeoff between returns and time spent in...

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor proposed changes that would eliminate third-party incentive payments, such as 12b-1 fees, that may encourage broker-dealers to sell high-fee mutual funds to Individual Retirement Account (IRA) customers. The investment industry argues that eliminating these...

Many older Americans need to work longer in order to achieve a secure retirement. The question is whether employers will hire and retain them. This paper reports on a 2019 survey of employer perceptions of the productivity, costs, and net value of their older workers relative to their younger...

Many older Americans need to work longer in order to achieve a secure retirement. The question is whether employers will hire and retain them. This paper reports on a 2019 survey of employer perceptions of the productivity, costs, and net value of their older workers relative to their younger...

Director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Alicia H. Munnell talked with with members of the Retirement Management Journal Editorial Advisory Board in February 2019 about the challenges of addressing retirement policy at the national level and the practical steps advisors...

As retirees live longer, spend more on medical care, and get less income replaced by Social Security, many may need to tap their home equity to be comfortable in retirement. The most direct way to access home equity is downsizing, but few choose this option because they generally prefer to stay...