Ron Gebhardtsbauer recently served on the 2019 Technical Panel for the Social Security Advisory Board, whose mission is to review the assumptions, methods, and presentation of material in the Social Security Trustees Report. Their Report represents the collected views of ten panelists……Read More
When average Americans confront the complicated problem of how much to save for retirement, they often use so-called “rules of thumb,” or greatly-simplified approaches, to figure out how much to save and how to invest. It turns out that many of the computer programs created to help with retirement income planning do exactly the same thing: use rules of thumb.…Read More
By: Olivia S. Mitchell Olivia S. Mitchell (@OS_Mitchell) is a professor of business economics/policy and insurance/risk management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she focuses on pensions, household finance, retirement, and risk management. Global aging paired with pension shortfalls have led many governments to raise retirement…Read More
Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system, since payroll taxes collected from today’s workers mostly go to pay today’s retirees. But as the U.S. population ages, fewer young workers are paying into the system relative to rising numbers of ever-longer-lived retirees drawing benefits, according to this opinion piece by Olivia S. Mitchell, a Wharton professor of business economics and public policy, and also insurance and risk management.…Read More
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, signed into law on November 2, brought with it changes that will likely impact the retirement plans of many married couples by eliminating two Social Security claiming strategies that had been gaining in popularity in recent years.…Read More
Chile provides a safety net for those who fall into poverty in old age, but it’s still an imperfect pension system that needs work.
Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) retirement programs in the U.S. and many European countries are struggling to remain solvent in the face of an aging population, fewer workers, and a shortfall in private savings. A different approach would strengthen individual savings accounts by requiring workers to contribute out of pre-tax income, combined with a redistributive means-tested safety net for those who fall into poverty in old age.…Read More
Since its launch 35 years ago, Chile’s retirement system has been hailed as “best in class” by pension experts near and far. The country’s fabled individual and privately-managed accounts include around 10 million affiliates, hold $160 billion in investments, and pay retirement benefits to over a million retirees. So why did President Michelle Bachelet establish a Pension Reform Commission that just delivered to her 58 specific reforms and three comprehensive proposals to overhaul remodel Chile’s retirement system?…Read More
With an aging population and a declining portion of Americans who are covered by a pension, the annuity market should be stepping in to fill the gap. But the reality is much different. Luckily, technology is making annuities easier for insurers to sell and a better value for consumers.…Read More
As the Baby Boom moves into retirement, confidence in our retirement system is waning, for good reason. Plan sponsors, including public and private employers, are rapidly freezing their defined benefit plans—those that promise a guaranteed level of income in retirement—by closing the plans to new hires or stopping current employees from earning additional benefits.…Read More