November 2021

Asset Allocation: Glide Path Design for Target Date Retirement Funds

By Thomas Present, Sharon Persyn In this thesis, we discuss and compare target date retirement fund strategies that have been used in recent literature. These strategies include the 100% equity, glide path, maximum drawdown, risk budget and target return strategy. We conduct sensitivity analyses in order to obtain optimal parameters for the different strategies. We first compare the strategies with rebalancing between two asset classes: equity (Russell 1000) as the risky asset and bonds (10Y US government bonds) as the...

September 2021

Driving Value for Money in defined contribution pensions

By The Pensions Regulator & Financial Conduct Authority This discussion paper was published jointly by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator. A focus on Value for Money (VFM) is a key part of ensuring defined contribution (DC) pensions maximise the income savers have at retirement. In this discussion paper, we invite views on developing a holistic framework and related metrics to assess VFM in all FCA and TPR regulated DC pension schemes (workplace and non-workplace). At this stage, we...

May 2021

Spain. Government And Social Agents Will Evaluate The Formula For Raising Pensions

The soap opera of the revaluation of pensions could close the chapter. The Government and the social partners will carry out, within the framework of social dialogue, a periodic evaluation every five years of the effects of the new formula for the revaluation of pensions with the CPI, to which the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations finally agreed. , José Luis Escrivá , for the maintenance of purchasing power. This is reflected in the draft agreement on pensions...

April 2021

Evaluation of Four Decades of Pension Privatization in Latin America, 1980-2020: Promises and Reality

By Carmelo Mesa-Lago The author of this book has published other 40 on social security since 1968, dealing with pensions, health care, and social assistance, in seven languages and in 34 countries. His new book is a product of many works in the last 30 years, which have been integrated, updated, and expanded under a new methodological framework. The book thoroughly documents the effects of the privatization of pensions in nine countries in Latin America from 1980 until the present:...

January 2021

How Measuring Replacement Income Can Aid Assessment of Public Pension Plans

Pew evaluates a key predictor of career workers’ standard of living in retirement. The Pew Charitable Trusts uses three retirement security metrics to assist policymakers in evaluating how well their plans are expected to prepare public workers for retirement. This fact sheet focuses on the replacement income ratio, a commonly cited indicator that illustrates whether a worker might expect to maintain his or her standard of living in retirement.1 This ratio—also referred to as the replacement rate—is the percentage of a worker’s...

September 2020

Homeownership Effect on Retirement Adequacy and Government Transfers in Australia

By John R. Evans, Abdul Razeed Whilst the concept of an asset-based welfare system developed formally in the 1950s there is evidence in Australia that the philosophy developed well before then and has continued through advantages for those able to acquire a home over those that cannot in the retirement system. The net cost to government of the retirement system has been reduced below that which would have applied had the own home asset-based welfare system not been introduced....

August 2020

Financial Knowledge Overconfidence and Early Withdrawals from Retirement Accounts

By Sunwoo T. Lee, Sherman D. Hanna Early distributions from retirement accounts could endanger future retirement income security, and the U.S. has restrictions to discourage them, including possible tax penalties. On the other hand, tapping one’s retirement assets may be rational when an individual encounters financial hardship. With the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), early distribution from retirement accounts became an even more attractive option to individuals. In this study, we examined factors related...

Study of an SB2 Beneficiary’s Pension Plan

By Enriqueta Mancilla-Redón, Carmen Lozano Arizmendi The individual account pension system established by the Social Security Act 1997 shows that the contributions of beneficiaries invested in retirement fund managers have had negative returns and the investment instrument in which the contributions of the retirement savings system are invested are not known. The objective of this study is to analyze the contributions in AFORES of an SB2 classification beneficiary invested in SIEFORES and the performance they have generated that the...

July 2020

Social Security Programs and Retirement Around the World: Disability Insurance Programs and Retirement

By David A Wise, Courtney C Coile, Kevin Milligan Even as life expectancy in many countries has continued to increase, social security and similar government programs can provide strong incentives for workers to leave the labor force when they reach the age of eligibility for benefits. Disability insurance programs can also play a significant role in the departure of older workers from the labor force, with many individuals in some countries relying on disability insurance until they are able...

February 2020

Target Date Funds and Portfolio Choice in 401(k) Plans

By Olivia S. Mitchell, Stephen P. Utkus Target date funds in corporate retirement plans grew from $5B in 2000 to $734B in 2018, partly because federal regulation sanctioned these as default investments in automatic enrollment plans. We show that adopters delegated pension investment decisions to fund managers selected by plan sponsors. Including these funds in retirement saving menus raised equity shares, boosted bond exposures, curtailed cash/company stock holdings, and reduced idiosyncratic risk. The adoption of low-cost target date funds...