@article {8626, title = {Do Retired Americans Annuitize Too Little? Trends in the Share of Annuitized Income}, number = {CRR WP 2015-9}, year = {2015}, month = {06/2015}, pages = {1-49}, institution = {Center for Retirement Research at Boston College}, address = {Chestnut Hill, MA}, abstract = {This paper examines the importance of annuity-like income as a share of total money income received by aged families. The analysis considers the aged (62+) population as a whole as well as different parts of the aged families{\textquoteright} income distribution during the period from the early 1980s through 2009. We use survey data from 1983 through 2009 from the March Current Population Survey (March CPS) and the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). The total income amounts reported in the files are compared with data in the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA). We calculate the family income consisting of annuitized income flows (primarily Social Security and pensions) and measure it as a share of families{\textquoteright} total money income. We also expand the definition of both annuitized and non-annuitized income to include income flows not captured in the surveys, namely, health insurance subsidies and the housing services received by homeowners. Finally, we consider the potential impact on aged families if they were to convert their wealth into private annuities.}, keywords = {Annuitization, Income, Older Adults, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction}, url = {http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wp_2015-9.pdf}, author = {Barry Bosworth and Gary T. Burtless and Mattan Alalouf} } @proceedings {10623, title = {Differential Mortality and Retirement Benefits in the Health and Retirement Study}, journal = {15th Annual Joint Conference of the Retirement Research Consortium}, year = {2013}, address = {Washington, D.C.}, abstract = {The objective of this study is to investigate the magnitude of the increase in differential mortality and its impact on the progressivity of the retirement system. Several studies have incorporated differential mortality in constructed measures of lifetime contributions and benefits; and they frequently conclude that mortality differences are sufficient to offset large portions of the progressivity that was originally built into the Social Security system. However, most of those studies were limited to the retirement portion of the OASDI program. Less account has been taken of disability and survivor benefits. As highlighted by a recent CBO (2006) report, most of the lifetime progressivity flows from the disability and survivor portions of the program. }, keywords = {Mortality, retirement benefits}, url = {https://mrdrc.isr.umich.edu/publications/conference/pdf/2013_RRC_A2C_BosworthBurkeDifferentialMortality.pdf}, author = {Barry Bosworth and Burke, Kathleen} }