July 2021
29Jul

Designing the Best Solution for Retirement

By Robert C. Merton In March 2020, Robert Powell, Retirement Management Journal editor-in-chief; Zvi Bodie, PhD, president of Bodie Associates and the Norman and Adele Barron Professor Emeritus of Management at Boston University; and Stacy Schaus, founder and chief executive officer of Schaus Group LLC, spoke with Merton about retirement solutions for the twenty-first century working and middle classes, fintech, and solving for the right problems. Source: SSRN 307 views

July 29, 2021
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23Jul

Joint Retirement of Couples: Evidence from Discontinuities in Denmark

By Esteban García-Miralles & Jonathan M. Leganza We study how social security influences the retirement behavior of couples. First, we exploit over two decades of full-population data and a discontinuity design to document sizable retirement spillovers to spouses when individuals reach pension eligibility age. Next, we explore underlying mechanisms. We find age differences within couples to be a fundamental determinant of joint retirement, which is driven by older spouses working longer. Accounting for these age differences reveals a strong gender...

July 23, 2021
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23Jul

Pensions and Timing of Retirement: The Case of the Public Service Pension Scheme in Uganda

By Kibs Boaz Muhanguzi Unsustainable defined-benefit public pension scheme, rising life expectancy, and high level of unemployment endanger the socioeconomic and political stability of Uganda’s economy. This research approaches the problem from labor supply point of view by: (i) analyzing the effect of the public service pension scheme on timing of retirement; (ii) investigating the required early retirement incentives that would increase employment in the public service; and (iii) determining the predictors of postretirement employment in the public service in...

July 23, 2021
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16Jul

The Story of UK Pensions: An engaging guide to the pensions system

By Matthew Rhodes This book explains the wonderful world of UK pensions. It starts with a brief history of how the system has developed over time, covering the different arrangements provided by the private and public sectors, as well as the State. It then investigates the system in more detail, explaining some of the complexitiies and why pensions so often make news headlines. This book is suitable for anyone - whether you know nothing about pensions, or are someone in...

July 16, 2021
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16Jul

Reverse Mortgages

By Consumer Financial Protection Bureau A reverse mortgage is a special type of home loan for older homeowners that requires no monthly mortgage payments. Borrowers are still responsible for property taxes and homeowner’s insurance. Reverse mortgages allow seniors to access the equity they have built up in their homes now, and defer payment of the loan until they die, sell, or move out of the home. Because there are no required mortgage payments on a reverse mortgage, the interest is...

July 16, 2021
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16Jul

Public Pension Design and Household Retirement Decisions: A Comparison of the United States and Germany

By David Knapp, Jinkook Lee, Maciej Lis and Drystan Phillips Social Security provides retirement benefits to age-eligible workers and their spouses. Benefits are permanently increased if initial receipt is delayed. For benefits paid to spouses, these incentives reflect a complex interaction of the worker’s and spouse’s earnings histories, benefit claiming decisions, and age difference. We demonstrate that the benefit increment from delaying initial receipt of spousal and survivor benefits is substantial for some households. Past studies find that workers respond...

July 16, 2021
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08Jul

Remaking Retirement: Debt in an Aging Economy

By  Olivia Mitchell & Annamaria Lusardi Around the world, people nearing and entering retirement are holding ever-greater levels of debt than in the past. This is not a benign situation, as many pre-retirees and retirees are stressed about their indebtedness. Moreover, this growth in debt among the older population may render retirees vulnerable to financial shocks, medical care bills, and changes in interest rates. Contributors to this volume explore key aspects of the rise in debt across older cohorts, drill down...

July 8, 2021
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08Jul

Pensions for Whom? Redistribution of Public Pension with an Endogenous Income-Longevity Gradient

By Frederik Bjørn Christensen, Frederik Læssøe Nielsen A vast literature on public pensions shows that pay-as-you-go schemes may be preferable to funded schemes despite arguments of return dominance. A heavily cited reason for this is redistribution. One aspect that is rarely considered, however, is that the positive correlation between income and longevity may mitigate or even reverse redistribution. Augmenting a standard, heterogeneous-agent life cycle model with endogenous survival, we conduct a positive experiment and show that pension policy might not...

July 8, 2021
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08Jul

Delay the Pension Age or Adjust the Pension Benefit? Implications for Labor Supply and Individual Welfare in China

By Yuanyuan Deng, Hanming Fang, Katja Hanewald, Shang Wu We develop and calibrate a life-cycle model of labor supply and consumption to quantify the implications of alternative pension reforms on labor supply, individual welfare, and government budget for China’s basic old-age insurance program. We focus on urban males and distinguish low-skilled and high-skilled individuals, who differ in their preferences, health and labor income dynamics, and medical expense processes. We use the calibrated model to evaluate three potential pension reforms: (i)...

July 8, 2021
Aging, Articles, Labor Market, Pension design, , , , , ,
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02Jul

What would women’s pensions look like if there wasn’t a gender pay gap? The economic case for gender-inclusive, paid parental leave

By Pension Bee PensionBee’s vision is a world where everyone can look forward to a happy retirement. For this to happen, we all need good health, financial freedom, and social inclusion. Currently, an obstacle to achieving this financial freedom for all is a gender pension gap of up to almost 60%. Bold action is required to challenge this so that women can enjoy similar levels of wealth in retirement as men. This is particularly important as women tend to live longer...

July 2, 2021
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