October 2017

08Oct

Endowment vs Pension Returns

By Michael Karris (EndowBridge Capital) Does the Endowment Model still work? Judging by large endowments’ steady outperformance of a 70% global stock /30% US bond index, THE ANSWER IS YES. Versus a 60% US stock / 40% US bond index, the answer is not as clear cut. Even so, the Endowment Model still adds value for a long-term portfolio that uses alternative assets, especially venture capital. The lucrative illiquidity premium has generated superior returns for U.S. endowments versus other investors, especially through...

October 8, 2017
Articles, Investing, Savings
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08Oct

Is There a Retirement Crisis? Examining Retirement Planning in the Household and Government Sectors

By Andrew G. Biggs (American Enterprise Institute) In response to a widespread perception that households are undersaving for retirement, policymakers have proposed expanding Social Security and establishing supplementary retirement saving plans run by state governments. But these proposals take place against a background of record-high unfunded liabilities for government-run retirement programs. If government entities have either financial or political difficulty funding their existing obligations to retirees, shifting greater retirement provision from households to government could potentially worsen existing shortfalls in...

October 8, 2017
Articles, Funding, Savings, System Sustainability, ,
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02Oct

Life Insurance as a Retirement Income Tool

By Russell DeLibero & Wade D. Pfau (The American College; McLean Asset Management) Given its tax-preferential treatment, careful study is warranted to determine whether life insurance can play an important role in an overall retirement portfolio. This study develops hypothetical scenarios for different types of individuals with varying ages and distribution periods, while using a historical outlook to determine the proper structure of a variable universal life insurance policy. We compare a variable universal life policy to different investment vehicles...

October 2, 2017
Adequacy, Articles, Labor Market, Savings,
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September 2017

24Sep

Pension Schemes, Taxation and Stakeholder Wealth: The USS Rule Changes

By Emmanouil Platanakis (University of Bath) & Charles Sutcliffe (University of Reading) Although tax relief on pensions is a controversial area of government expenditure, this is the first study of the tax effects of a real world defined benefit pension scheme - the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). First, we estimate the tax and national insurance contribution (NIC) effects of the rule changes in 2011 on the gross and net wealth of the sponsor, government, and 16 age cohorts of members,...

September 24, 2017
Articles, Management, Regulation, Savings, ,
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24Sep

Simplifying Choices in Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Design: A Case Study

By Donald B. Keim (University of Pennsylvania) & Olivia S. Mitchell (University of Pennsylvania; National Bureau of Economic Research) The growth and popularity of defined contribution pensions, along with the government’s increasing attention to retirement plan costs and investment choices provided, make it important to understand how people select their retirement plan investments. This paper shows how employees in a large firm altered their fund allocations when the employer streamlined its pension fund menu and deleted nearly half of the...

September 24, 2017
Articles, Investing, Labor Market, Savings,
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22Sep

Using Behavioral Science to Increase Retirement Savings

By Andrew Fertig, Jaclyn Lefkowitz & Alissa Fishbane We all deserve a dignified retirement, yet for many of us saving enough remains an obscure, unrealized goal. In an ideal world, planning for our retirement would begin with our first job, continue throughout our working years, and end in sufficient savings for a comfortable future. This pathway may be possible for the few among us with employer-provided pensions, where someone else handles all the planning and saving. Yet trends in the retirement...

September 22, 2017
Articles, Investing, Savings, Slider-Left, System Sustainability, , , , , ,
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20Sep

The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence

By Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell In this paper, we undertake an assessment of the rapidly growing body of research on financial literacy. We start with an overview of theoretical research which casts financial knowledge as a form of investment in human capital. Endogenizing financial knowledge has important implications for welfare as well as policies intended to enhance levels of financial knowledge in the larger population. Next, we draw on recent surveys to establish how much (or how little)...

September 20, 2017
Articles, Investing, Savings, , ,
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20Sep

Borrowing on the Wrong Credit Card: Evidence from Mexico

By Alejandro Ponce (World Justice Project), Enrique Seira (Banco de México; ITAM) & Guillermo Zamarripa (FUNDEF, Mexico) We study how consumers allocate debt across credit cards they already hold using new data on credit card activity for a representative sample of consumers with two homogeneous cards in Mexico. We find that relative prices are a very weak predictor of the allocation of debt, purchases, and payments. On average, consumers pay 31 % above their minimum financing cost. Evidence on cross-card...

September 20, 2017
Articles, Management, Savings
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15Sep

Drawing Down Retirement Savings – Do Pensions, Taxes and Government Transfers Matter Much for Optimal Decisions?

By Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald (Independent), Richard J. Morrison (Independent), Marvin Avery (Human Resources and Skills Development), Lars Osberg (Dalhousie University) This paper examines the importance of pensions (employment and social security), taxes and government transfers for alternative retirement savings drawdown strategies, based on Canadian evidence. Using as examples single elderly Canadians at the 10th, median and 90th percentiles of the income distribution, we use a lifetime utility framework to evaluate an illustrative set of six popular drawdown strategies. Our longitudinal dynamic...

September 15, 2017
Adequacy, Articles, Pension design, Savings, Slider, , ,
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08Sep

Does Financial Education Impact Financial Literacy and Financial Behavior, and If so, When?

By Tim Kaiser (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin); University of Kiel) and Lukas Menkhoff (German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin); Humboldt University of Berlin) In a meta-analysis of 126 impact evaluation studies, we find that financial education significantly impacts financial behavior and, to an even larger extent, financial literacy. These results also hold for the subsample of randomized experiments (RCTs). However, intervention impacts are highly heterogeneous: Financial education is less effective for lowincome clients as well as...

September 8, 2017
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