January 2020

31Jan

Secure Retirement: Connecting Financial Theory and Human Behavior

By Jacques Lussier Investors fear return uncertainty and drawdowns associated with owning relatively risky asset classes, such as equity. The fact that greater risk is associated with greater expected return does not preclude the possibility that realized returns may be far less than a low-risk asset could provide, even with horizons as long as 5 to 10 years. Fear prompts the average investor to sometimes act against his own best interest. Therefore, the average investor’s portfolio often underperforms a...

January 31, 2020
Articles, Pension design, Savings, ,
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18Jan

How are Employers Responding to an Aging Workforce?

By: Robert L. Clark, Beth Ritter The American population is aging and changes in the population’s age structure are leading to an aging of the nation’s workforce. In addition, changes to age specific participation rates are exacerbating the aging of the national labor force. An important challenge for firms and organizations is how does workforce aging affect labor costs, productivity and the sustainability of the organization. This paper examines employer responses to workforce aging including changes retirement policies, modification...

January 18, 2020
Aging, Articles, Labor Market,
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18Jan

Robert C. Merton and the Science of Finance

By Zvi Bodie Starting with his 1970 doctoral dissertation and continuing to today, Robert C. Merton has revolutionized the theory and practice of finance. In 1997 Merton shared a Nobel Prize in Economics “for a new method to determine the value of derivatives.” His contributions to the science of finance, however, go far beyond that. In this essay I describe Merton’s main contributions. They include the following: 1. The introduction of continuous-time stochastic models (the Ito calculus) to the theory...

January 18, 2020
Articles, Investing, System Sustainability,
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December 2019

20Dec

Debt Close to Retirement and Its Implications for Retirement Well-being

By Annamaria Lusardi, Olivia S. Mitchell, Noemi Oggero We analyze debt and debt management of Americans nearing retirement age. We show that older people have numerous financial obligations that can lead to financial distress. Using data from the 2015 National Financial Capability Study and an extensive literature review, we show that lack of financial literacy, lack of information, and behavioral biases help explain the prevalence of debt later in life. Our evidence indicates that debt at older ages can...

December 20, 2019
Aging, Articles, Pension design, , , ,
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06Dec

Automatic enrolment: Qualitative research with small and micro employers

By Department for work & pensions Legislative changes set out in the Pensions Acts 2007, 2008 (and updated as part of the Pensions Act 2011 and 2014) aim to increase private pension saving in the UK and reverse a long-term decline in pension participation rates. The reforms require employers to automatically enrol eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme and to make a minimum contribution. These employer duties are being introduced between October 2012 and February 2018,...

December 6, 2019
Books, Operation,
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November 2019

15Nov

Financial Behavior: Players, Services, Products, and Markets

By University Professor of Finance and Kogod Research Professor H Kent Baker, Samuel P Black III Professor of Finance and Risk Management Director Black School of Business Greg Filbeck, Assistant Professor of Financial Management Victor Ricciardi Financial Behavior: Players, Services, Products, and Markets provides a synthesis of the theoretical and empirical literature on the financial behavior of major stakeholders, financial services, investment products, and financial markets. The book offers a different way of looking at financial and...

November 15, 2019
Books, Labor Market, Pension Management, System Sustainability,
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04Nov

A micro-macro economic analysis of pension auto-enrolment options

By Maxime Bercholz, Adele Bergin, Tim Callan, Abian Garcia Rodriguez, Claire Keane Like many other countries, Ireland faces challenges in relation to the adequacy and sustainability of pensions. These challenges have been examined in detail in a series of reports (Government of Ireland, 2007; OECD, 2014; Government of Ireland, 2018a). All of these reports identify pension coverage in the private sector as a key issue. Burke and Gilhawley (2018) estimate that only 30% of the private sector in Ireland had a supplementary pension1 in 2017....

November 4, 2019
Books, Books, Pension design,
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04Nov

Evidence on Usage Behavior and Future Adoption Intention of Fintechs and Digital Finance Solutions

By Johannes M. Gerlach (Chair of Financial Services, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Heinrich-Heine-University) & Julia K. T. Lutz (Chair of Financial Services, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Heinrich-Heine University) Financial Technology Companies are gaining popularity and becoming more relevant within financial services industries worldwide. This growth can be encouraged by the EY FinTech Adoption Index, which indicates a global average FinTech Adoption of 33.0% in 2017. With regard to Financial Technology Companies and Digital Finance Solutions, this...

November 4, 2019
Articles, Investing, Savings, ,
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October 2019

31Oct

Ireland. Plans to auto-enrol workers in pension schemes announced

The Government is to introduce a system of pension auto-enrolment on a phased basis from 2022. Read also Irish pensions need urgent reform, industry specialist says The details have been published by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Under the system, a worker will be automatically enrolled in a pension scheme when they start a job. Read also UK. Watchdog hails success of auto-enrolment pensions It will apply to all employees aged between 23 and 60 earning more than €20,000 a year...

October 31, 2019
News, Slider, ,
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25Oct

Secure Retirement: Connecting Financial Theory and Human Behavior

By Jacques Lussier Investors fear return uncertainty and drawdowns associated with owning relatively risky asset classes, such as equity. The fact that greater risk is associated with greater expected return does not preclude the possibility that realized returns may be far less than a low-risk asset could provide, even with horizons as long as 5 to 10 years. Fear prompts the average investor to sometimes act against his own best interest. Therefore, the average investor’s portfolio often underperforms a...

October 25, 2019
Articles, Pension design, ,
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