The maturation of the 401(k) system and the enactment of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which made 401(k) plans easier and more automatic, were expected to enhance the role that 401(k)s played in the provision of retirement income. So, originally, the release of the Federal Reserve’s 2007...

Equity assets in retirement plans dropped in value by about $4 trillion between October 9, 2007 and October 9, 2008. The decline was divided equally between defined benefit and 401(k)/Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). The decline in the defined benefit arena was in turn divided equally...

Over the past two decades, the private pension system in the United States has shifted from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, and the fastest growing defined contribution plans are 401(k)s. The defining characteristic of 401(k) plans is that employees, rather than employers, bear...

Between October 9, 2007 and October 9, 2008, the value of equities in retirement plans dropped by about $4 trillion, with the decline divided equally between defined benefit and 401(k)/Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). The decline in the defined benefit arena was in turn divided equally...

Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) now hold more assets than either defined benefit or defined contribution pension plans, but many people do not understand how they work. This Just the Facts reminds readers of the differences between Roth and conventional IRAs and describes their role to...

This 2012 update on the funded status of state/local pensions will be one of the last two based on the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s(GASB) old provisions, under which assets are reported on an actuarially smoothed basis, the discount rate is the long-run expected rate of return,...

Most of the attention in the wake of the financial crisis and ensuing recession has focused on state-administered pension plans. But cities often administer their own plans, and stories circulate about the perils facing Chicago, Philadelphia, Providence, and others. To assess the status of...

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...

The finances of state and local pension plans are headline news almost daily.1 Indeed, although these plans were moving toward prefunding their promised benefits, two financial crises in 10 years have thrown them seriously off course. Measured by the standards of the Government Accounting...

The 2010 Trustees Report had no surprises - Social Security still faces a modest deficit of 2% of payroll, which is newsworthy given the economic crisis. The recession has had some shorter-term effects: 1) prices are still below their 2008 levels, so beneficiaries are not expected to receive a...