Shankar (2009) proposes a new investment strategy for retirees that bundles Treasury Inflation Protected Securities with a deferred annuity to guarantee real annual withdrawal rates of 5% or more with no risk of financial ruin. This strategy addresses three problems that retirees face: longevity...

We investigate the relationships between measures of financial literacy, applied financial literacy, financial judgment and measures of fluid and crystallised cognitive ability. Given an ageing population and the responsibility for managing savings in retirement, this relationship is of...

The paper presents a model of retirement plan enrollment, under the presence of a default asset portfolio, in which consumers have a propensity to procrastinate and risk preferences are heterogeneous. The model is based on Caroll et al (2005), but instead of the savings rate, the agent optimally...

Most defined contribution pension plans pay benefits as lump sums, yet the US Treasury has recently encouraged firms to protect retirees from outliving their assets by converting a portion of their plan balances into longevity income annuities (LIA). These are deferred annuities which initiate...

The introduction of direct contribution 401(k) retirement accounts in the late 1970's brought about an institutional shift in the relationship between private employers and workers with regard to financial risk and decision making involved with retirement savings, which can impact financial...

Using data from year-end 2007 through year-end 2014, this report analyzes data on traditional IRA investors drawn from The IRA Investor Database to gain insight into how traditional IRA investors fared during and after the financial crisis. After setting the scene in terms of financial...

Basu and Drew (in the JPM Spring 2009 issue) argue that lifecycle asset allocation strategies are counterproductive to the retirement savings goals of typical individual investors. Because of the portfolio size effect, most portfolio growth will occur in the years just before retirement when...

We study the performance of different investment and spending strategies for retirement. Investment strategies include wealth-focused glide paths that combine equities with short-term, high-quality fixed income. We also consider an income-focused glide path that combines a moderate equity...