This paper explores (1) whether plan demographic characteristics would affect individual participant contribution rates and target-date fund investments and (2) equity glide paths for participants in relation to plan demographics by considering target replacement income and its success rate....

Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are a critically important component of the assets that will be available to fund retirees' expenses. This paper examines the level of assets in these accounts, the types of financial institutions in which they are held, the breakdown of the assets into...

I solve the life-cycle portfolio allocation problem of a disappointment averse (DA) agent. DA agents overweight disappointing outcomes. Unlike expected utility investors, DA investors drastically cut their allocation to stocks around retirement due to a distinct effect associated with the drop...

Measuring retirement security -- or retirement income adequacy -- is an extremely important topic. The May 2012 EBRI Notes article provided updates for the previously published EBRI Retirement Readiness Ratings™ as well as the average Retirement Savings Shortfalls (RSS). This paper provides...

Workers' participation in a retirement plan, either through an employment-based arrangement or individually, is a crucial factor in accumulating sufficient resources to pay for expenses in retirement. This paper examines the distribution of total assets held in individual account retirement...

The use of target-date funds (TDFs) in 401(k) plans has increased rapidly in recent years. The percentage of all 401(k) plan participants using TDFs increased from 25 percent in 2007 to 31 percent in 2008. One of the reasons for this growth is that TDFs have been a popular choice for the default...

Target-date funds (TDFs) are an important and growing investment option in 401(k) retirement plans, and are giving rise to a new class of 401(k) investor: “mixed” target-date fund users who hold the funds in combination with other non-TDF funds in the plan menu. Although “pure” TDF users...

As European pension systems are struggling to provide financial security in retirement under the pressure of demographic change, poverty in old age disproportionally affects women. Given these developments, private investment is becoming ever more important to securing financial means after...

Default features in defined-contribution plans are designed to improve the retirement security of plan participants. To date, these have focused on the challenge of saving, ignoring the more complex challenge of dissaving. Automatic default provisions for drawing down participant account...

In this thesis, we discuss and compare target date retirement fund strategies that have been used in recent literature. These strategies include the 100% equity, glide path, maximum drawdown, risk budget and target return strategy. We conduct sensitivity analyses in order to obtain optimal...