November 2020

Factors Associated with the Ownership of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs): Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior

By Frank Magwegwe Despite the importance of retirement savings, many individuals retire with lack of adequate retirement savings. Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior, we developed a model in which psychological factors influence the calculation of retirement savings needs, which in turn influences the ownership of independent retirement accounts. The results showed that favorable attitudes, strong social norms, and perceived behavioral control are associated with calculating retirement savings needs. Also, calculating retirement savings needs as well as perceived behavioral...

Pension Schemes in the European Union: Challenges and Implications from Macroeconomic and Financial Stability Perspectives

By Antonio Sánchez Serrano,Tuomas Peltonen Pension schemes have a significant influence on the saving and consumption decisions of households. Similarly, contributions to pension arrangements are substantial expenditures for national governments and also for corporations, depending on the prevailing pension system. Beyond this, pension schemes play an important role in the economy, channelling savings into investments through capital markets. However, demographic factors and the macroeconomic environment (low interest rates, low growth and low productivity) are raising concerns about the sustainability...

Pension Superpowers and Financial Markets in the Sino-American Century

By M. Nicolas J. Firzli In this primer published in the Feb. 2020 issue of Private Debt Investor (PDI), Nicolas J. Firzli, World Pensions Council, looks at how institutional asset owners will come to the fore in the new geo-economic context defined by renewed Sino-American "coopetition" across ASEAN countries, Australia, Eastern Europe and the MENA area, Brexit and the resurgence of one-nation conservatism in Britain, the slow, relative decline of the European Union and the secular rise of "Pension...

October 2020

Reconsidering Risk Aversion

By Daniel J. Benjamin, Mark Alan Fontana, Miles S. Kimball Risk aversion is typically inferred from real or hypothetical choices over risky lotteries, but such “untutored” choices may reflect mistakes rather than preferences. We develop a procedure to disentangle preferences from mistakes: after eliciting untutored choices, we confront participants with their choices that are inconsistent with expected-utility axioms (broken down enough to be self-evident) and allow them to reconsider their choices. We demonstrate this procedure via a survey about...

Life-Care Tontines

By Peter Hieber, Nathalie Lucas This paper builds on the advantage of pooling mortality and morbidity risks, and their inherent natural hedge. We focus on classical mutual risk pooling schemes, i.e. tontines, and introduce a ``life-care tontine", which in addition to retirement income targets the needs of long-term care coverage for an ageing population. This scheme reduces adverse selection costs and is actuarially fair at each time. Pooling heterogeneous risks (i.e. different age groups) is shown to reduce overall...

The DC Future Book: In association with Columbia Threadneedle Investments

By Lauren Wilkinson, Daniela Silcock and John Adams Compared to previous generations of pensioners, current and future retirees will: • Live longer on average, • Receive their State Pension later, • Be more likely to be dependent on Defined Contribution (DC) savings, • Have no, or low, levels of Defined Benefit (DB) entitlement, and • Flexibly access their DC savings. These changes increase the risks borne by pension scheme members and the complexity of decisions people must make at and...

2020 Global Retirement Index An in-depth assessment of welfare in retirement around the world

By NATIXIS With the world facing immediate issues resulting from the coronavirus pandemic and the economic consequences from the response of governments around the world, wildfires and other natural catastrophes triggered by changing weather and climate patterns, and heightened concerns about social justice and income inequality, the long-term goal of retirement security may not appear to be a top global concern in 2020. In reality, though, the crises we are experiencing today will have long-range implications for global retirement...

United Kingdom (UK) Pre-Retirement Pensions Market 2020

By Research and Markets The total UK pensions market grew 16.1% to £16.4bn annual premium equivalent (APE) in 2019. Workplace pensions drove growth as minimum pension contributions increased to 8%. Direct benefit to direct contribution transfers continue as companies de-risk and individuals take advantage of pension freedoms. COVID-19 will bring uncertainty to saving for retirement. The UK economy has officially entered into recession and disposable incomes are set to fall as unemployment rises. This will force many individuals to...

The Essential 2020 Guide to Unlocking the Potential of Reverse Mortgages: Modern Retirement Planning

By Michael Malyszko A must-read book by reverse mortgage expert, Michael Malyszko, The Essential Guide to Un-locking the Potential of Reverse Mortgages breaks down the fundamentals of reverse mortgages, giving homeowners the knowledge they need to leverage the full potential of this incredible financial planning tool. In recent years, reverse mortgages have become even more common as an increasing number of homeowners have discovered that reverse mortgages are a valid retire-ment strategy, offering flexibility that few other loans and...

September 2020

The Role of IRAs in US Households’ Saving for Retirement, 2019

By Sarah Holden, Daniel Schrass This paper presents survey results on the incidence of IRA ownership in the United States and the activity of IRA-owning households. In mid-2019, 36 percent of US households owned individual retirement accounts (IRAs). More than eight in 10 IRA-owning households also had employer-sponsored retirement plan accumulations or had defined benefit plan coverage. All told, more than six in 10 US households had retirement plans through work or IRAs; three-quarters of near-retiree households did. In...