TY - RPRT T1 - How Secure Are Retirement Nest Eggs? Y1 - 2006 A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Mermin, Gordon B.T. A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Adult children KW - Consumption and Savings KW - Health Conditions and Status KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - Life s uncertainties can upend the best-laid retirement plans. Health can fail as people grow older, or their spouses can become ill. Older people can lose their jobs, and often have trouble finding new ones. Marriages can end in widowhood or divorce. Health, employment, and marital shocks near retirement can have serious financial repercussions, raising out-of-pocket medical spending, reducing earnings, disrupting retirement saving, and forcing people to dip prematurely into their nest eggs. This brief examines different types of negative events that can strike near retirement. It reports the incidence of widowhood, divorce, job layoffs, disability, and various medical conditions over a 10-year period, and estimates their impact on household wealth. Data come from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative survey of older Americans conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Aging. The survey interviewed a large sample of non-institutionalized adults ages 51 to 61 in 1992 and re-interviewed them every other year. The analysis uses data through 2002, the most recent year available. The results show that many people in their 50s and 60s experience negative shocks that threaten retirement security. Job layoffs, divorce, and the onset of work disabilities near retirement substantially erode retirement savings. The findings highlight the limitations of the safety net when things go wrong in late midlife. PB - Boston College, Center for Retirement Research UR - http://www.bc.edu/centers/crr/ib_45.shtml U4 - Retirement Saving/Health Shocks/Divorce/Widowhood ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Lifetime earnings, social security benefits, and the adequacy of retirement wealth accumulation. JF - Soc Secur Bull Y1 - 2005 A1 - Engen, Eric M. A1 - William G. Gale A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Adult KW - Humans KW - Income KW - Middle Aged KW - Models, Econometric KW - Pensions KW - Retirement KW - Social Security KW - United States PB - 66 VL - 66 UR - https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v66n1/v66n1p38.html IS - 1 N1 - Revision of CRR Working Paper 2004-10 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16295316?dopt=Abstract U4 - Social Security expectations/Retirement Saving ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Who foregoes survivor protection in employer-sponsored pension annuities? JF - Gerontologist Y1 - 2005 A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Cori E. Uccello A1 - Joshua H. Goldwyn KW - Female KW - Humans KW - Male KW - Multivariate Analysis KW - Pensions KW - Socioeconomic factors KW - Spouses KW - United States AB -

PURPOSE: Retirees in traditional pension plans must generally choose between single life annuities, which provide regular payments until death, and joint and survivor annuities, which pay less each month but continue to make payments to the spouse after the death of the retired worker. This article examines the payout decision and measures the share of married retirees with pension annuities who forego survivor protection.

DESIGN AND METHODS: The analysis consists of a probit model of the pension payout decision, based on data from the 1992-2000 waves of the Health and Retirement Study.

RESULTS: More than one quarter (28%) of married men and two thirds of married women receiving employer-sponsored retirement annuities declined survivor protection. Men with small pensions and limited household wealth, men in better health than their spouses, and men whose spouses have pension coverage from their own employers are more likely than other men to reject survivor protection.

IMPLICATIONS: Most workers appear to make payout decisions by rationally balancing the costs and benefits of each type of annuity, suggesting that existing measures to encourage joint and survivor annuities are adequate. However, the growth in 401(k) plans, which are generally not covered by existing laws protecting spousal pension rights, may leave widows vulnerable.

PB - 45 VL - 45 IS - 1 U1 - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15695415?dopt=Abstract U4 - Annuities/Pensions/Survivors/Female/Multivariate Analysis/Socioeconomic Factors/Spouses/United States ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Effects of Stock Market Fluctuations on the Adequacy of Retirement Wealth Accumulation Y1 - 2004 A1 - Engen, Eric M. A1 - William G. Gale A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - This paper examines the relation between fluctuations in the aggregate value of equities and the adequacy of households saving for retirement. We find that many and perhaps most households appear to be saving adequate amounts for retirement, but almost no link between stock values and the adequacy of retirement saving. Historical variation in equity values and ownership correlates poorly with historical variation in the adequacy of saving. Even a simulated 40 percent decline in stocks has little effect on the adequacy of saving. The results occur because equities are concentrated among households with significant amounts of other wealth. JF - Center for Retirement Research at Boston College Working Papers PB - Center for Retirement Research at Boston College CY - Boston UR - https://crr.bc.edu/working-papers/effects-of-stock-market-fluctuations-on-the-adequacy-of-retirement-wealth-accumulation/ U4 - Stock Market/Retirement Wealth ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Cash Balance Plans and the Distribution of Pension Wealth JF - Industrial Relations Y1 - 2003 A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Pensions AB - Recent pension plan coversions by numerous large employers have sparked debate about the merits of cash balance plans. This paper compares pension wealth in traditional defined benefit (DB) plans and cash balance plans for a national sample of coverred Americans aged 51 to 61. The simulations indicate that replacing DB plans with cash balance plans would redistribute pension wealth from those with long-term jobs to those with multiple short-term jobs and from those with substantial pension benefits to those with more limited benefits. Perhaps unexpectedly, women ad midlife in 1992 with DB coverage would lose wealth in cash balanace plans, but future cohorts of women are likely to fare better. PB - 42 VL - 42 IS - 4 N1 - RDA 1998-006 U4 - Pension Plans/Retirement Wealth ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Can Cash Balance Pension Plans Improve Retirement Security for Today's Workers? Y1 - 2002 A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Pensions AB - In recent years several large employers have replaced their traditional defined benefit pension plans with cash balance plans. This brief compares outcomes under each plan for a national sample of Americans near retirement with pension coverage. The findings show that cash balance plans would redistribute pension wealth from those who held long-term jobs to those with a series of short-term jobs. Individuals with limited pension wealth, especially those in the bottom quartile, would also benefit. Surprisingly, many women now approaching retirement age would lose pension wealth under cash balance plans, but future cohorts of older women are likely to fare better. JF - Urban Institute Brief Series: The Retirement Project PB - The Urban Institute UR - https://www.urban.org/research/publication/can-cash-balance-pension-plans-improve-retirement-security-todays-workers N1 - RDA 1998-006 U4 - Pension Plans ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Modeling Income in the Near Term: Revised Projections of Retirement Income Through 2020 for the 1931-1960 Birth Cohorts Y1 - 2002 A1 - Toder, Eric A1 - Thompson, Lawrence H. A1 - Melissa Favreault A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Perese, Kevin A1 - Ratcliffe, Caroline A1 - Karen E. Smith A1 - Cori E. Uccello A1 - Timothy A Waidmann A1 - Berk, Jillian A1 - Woldemariam, Romina A1 - Gary T. Burtless A1 - Claudia R Sahm A1 - Douglas A. Wolf KW - Disabilities KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Pensions KW - Social Security AB - The Division of Policy Evaluation (DPE) of the Social Security Administration (SSA) has entered into two contracts with the Urban Institute to help it develop a new tool for analyzing the distributional consequences of Social Security reform proposals. The first, awarded in 1998, led to the development of Modeling Income in the Near Term (MINT), a tool for simulating the retirement incomes of members of the Baby Boom and neighboring cohorts. The second, awarded in 2000, was to expand and improve on the first version of MINT. In all phases of the project, members of the research staff at SSA/DPE collaborated closely with the contractors. The Brookings Institution served as a subcontractor to the Urban Institute under both contracts and the RAND Corporation participated in the development of the initial version of MINT under a separate contract. This report describes the work of the researchers at Urban and Brookings under the second contract. JF - Urban Institute Research Report PB - The Urban Institute CY - Washington, D.C. UR - http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410609_ModelingIncome.pdf N1 - RDA 1998-006 U4 - Earnings and Benefits File/Disability/Disability/Pensions/Wealth ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Are Americans Saving Enough for Retirement? Y1 - 2001 A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Consumption and Savings KW - Expectations AB - Popular financial advice often suggests that households should aim to replace between 65 and 85 percent of pre-retirement income in retirement in order to maintain their pre-retirement living standards. Some households can achieve replacement rates that are in the recommended range through Social Security and pension income alone. Others can reach these replacement rates with the addition of income from part-time work during retirement, housing equity and inheritances. But most households will need to rely on their savings to supplement their other retirement income. Yet, reports in the popular press often warn that Americans are not saving enough for retirement. How accurate are these warnings? Are Americans jeopardizing their well-being in their later years through inadequate retirement preparations? This issue in brief provides an overview of the available evidence on whether Americans are saving enough for retirement. PB - Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, Issue Brief No. 7 UR - http://www.bc.edu/centers/crr/issues/ib_7.pdf N1 - RDA 1998-006 U4 - Retirement Saving/Subjective expectations ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Are Households Saving Adequately for Retirement? A Progress Report on Three Projects Y1 - 2001 A1 - Engen, Eric M. A1 - William G. Gale A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Consumption and Savings AB - This paper summarizes the current status of three research projects on the adequacy of households saving for retirement. The first examines how changes in the latter half of the 1990s, in particular the stock market boom, have affected the extent to which households are preparing adequately for saving. The second explores the implications of allowing for variable leisure and endogenous retirement in developing a simulation model that is used to generate benchmark values of adequate wealth accumulation. The third investigates how data on lifetime earnings can be used to improve estimates of how well households are actually preparing for retirement and to show biases that occur when using data on current earnings. PB - CRR Conference Paper, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College N1 - RDA 1998-006 U4 - Retirement Saving ER - TY - RPRT T1 - The Potential Effects of Cash Balance Plans on the Distribution of Pension Wealth at Midlife Y1 - 2001 A1 - Richard W. Johnson A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Pensions AB - Recent pension plan conversions by numerous large employers have sparked debate about the merits of cash balance plans. This paper compares pension wealth in traditional defined benefit (DB) plans and cash balance plans for a national sample of covered Americans ages 51 to 61. The simulations indicate that replacing DB plans with cash balance plans would redistribute pension wealth from those who held long-term jobs for many years to those with multiple short-term jobs. Women at midlife in 1992 with DB coverage would have lost wealth in cash balance plans, but future cohorts of women are likely to fare better. JF - The Urban Institute Research Report PB - The Urban Institute CY - Washington, D.C. UR - https://www.urban.org/research/publication/potential-effects-cash-balance-distribution-pension-wealth-midlife U4 - Pension Wealth/Pension Plans/Distribution ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Adequacy of Household Saving JF - Brookings Papers on Economic Activity Y1 - 1999 A1 - Engen, Eric M. A1 - William G. Gale A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Adult children KW - Consumption and Savings KW - Event History/Life Cycle KW - Income KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction AB - This paper shows that, in a life-cycle simulation model in which people save for retirement and due to uncertain future earnings and lifespan, there will be a distribution of optimal wealth-earnings ratios, even among observationally equivalent households. Therefore even low levels of wealth can be consistent with optimization. Using HRS and SCF data, we find that more than half of married households where the husband works full-time have wealth -earnings ratios exceeding the optimal median simulated ratio for households with the same characteristics. The model understates accumulation among households with high wealth-earnings ratios. Both results suggest accumulation is adequate for most such households. However, there is evidence of undersaving at the 5th and the 25th percentiles. We also reconcile most previous studies that have been interpreted as showing inadequate household saving with our results. PB - 2 VL - 2 UR - https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1999/06/1999b_bpea_engen.pdf N1 - RDA 1998-006 U4 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis/Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis/Macroeconomics: Consumption/Saving/Retirement/Retirement Policies/Personal Income and Wealth Distribution/Distribution/Households/Life Cycle/Retirement/Saving/Wealth ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Wealth Accumulation in the Health and Retirement Study: The Importance of Including Pension Wealth Y1 - 1999 A1 - Cori E. Uccello A1 - Perese, Kevin KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction PB - The Urban Institute N1 - RDA 1998-006 U4 - Pension Wealth/Retirement ER - TY - RPRT T1 - Uninsured Older Adults: Implications of Changing the Medicare Eligibility Age Y1 - 1997 A1 - Loprest, Pamela A1 - Cori E. Uccello KW - Demographics KW - Medicare/Medicaid/Health Insurance PB - New York, The Commonwealth Fund U4 - Medicare/Medically Uninsured/Middle Aged Adults ER -