%0 Journal Article %J The Journal of the Economics of Ageing %D 2015 %T The long reach of education: Early retirement %A Steven F Venti %A David A Wise %K disability insurance %K Education %K Retirement %K Social Security %X The goal of this paper is to draw attention to the long lasting effect of education on economic outcomes. We use the relationship between education and two routes to early retirement – the receipt of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) and the early claiming of Social Security retirement benefits – to illustrate the long-lasting influence of education. We find that for both men and women with less than a high school degree the median DI participation rate is 6.6 times the participation rate for those with a college degree or more. Similarly, men and women with less than a high school education are over 25 percentage points more likely to claim Social Security benefits early than those with a college degree or more. We focus on four critical “pathways” through which education may indirectly influence early retirement – health, employment, earnings, and the accumulation of assets. We find that for women health is the dominant pathway through which education influences DI participation. For men, the health, earnings, and wealth pathways are of roughly equal magnitude. For both men and women the principal channel through which education influences early Social Security claiming decisions is the earnings pathway. We also consider the direct effect of education that does not operate through these pathways. The direct effect of education is much greater for early claiming of Social Security benefits than for DI participation, accounting for 72% of the effect of education for men and 67% for women. For women the direct effect of education on DI participation is not statistically significant, suggesting that the total effect may be through the four pathways. %B The Journal of the Economics of Ageing %V 6 %P 133 - 148 %G eng %U http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212828X15000201 %R https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeoa.2015.08.001 %0 Book Section %B Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment %D 2009 %T Reducing Social Security PRA Risk at the Individual Level: Life-Cycle Funds and No-Loss Strategies %A James M. Poterba %A Joshua Rauh %A Steven F Venti %A David A Wise %K Social Security %X Retirement savers in a Social Security system with a personal retirement account (PRA) component would face the challenge of deciding how to allocate their PRA portfolios across a broad range of asset classes and across many different financial products. Asset allocation decisions have important consequences for retirement wealth accumulation because they affect the expenses of investing as well as the risk of low returns. The goal of this chapter is to assess the relative risk associated with alternative asset allocation strategies in PRAs. It also offers insight on the consequences of different asset allocation rules in current private-sector defined contribution (DC) plans, such as 401(k) plans. Quantifying the risk associated with %B Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment %I University of Chicago Press %P 255-292 %G eng %U http://www.nber.org/chapters/c4543 %0 Journal Article %J American Economic Review %D 2000 %T Saver Behavior and 401(k) Retirement Wealth %A James M. Poterba %A Steven F Venti %A David A Wise %K Consumption and Savings %K Net Worth and Assets %K Pensions %K Retirement Planning and Satisfaction %K Social Security %X Contributions to 401(k) plans are now the most important form of retirement saving. Since 401(k) plans were introduced in the early 1980's, they have expanded rapidly and continuously. By 1998, roughly half of all households were eligible to participate in 401(k) plans, and more than 36 million workers made contributions to these employer-provided saving plans. In 1995, the last year for which the U.S. Department of Labor has released definitive data, 401(k) contribu- tions amounted to $87.4 billion, or 55 percent of all contributions to employer-sponsored pension plans. The level of contributions, and their share of all pension contributions, is probably signifi- cantly higher today. The spread of 401(k) plans is the most important indicator of the move to personal retirement saving. In 1980, almost 92 percent of pension-plan contributions were to tradi- tional employer-provided plans, and about 64 percent of these contributions were to conventional defined-benefit plans. Today, almost 60 percent of contributions are to personal retirement accounts, including 401(k), IRA, and Keogh plans. Including employer- provided, non-40 1 (k) defined-contribution plans, over 76 percent of contributions are to plans that are controlled in large measure by individuals. These individuals make partici- pation, contribution, asset-allocation, and withdrawal decisions. In this paper, we describe the likely impor- tance of 401(k) assets for future older Ameri- cans and the effect of investment decisions on asset accumulation. We also examine the extent to which retirement assets may be affected by several decisions: preretirement withdrawals, management fees and expenses, contribution rates, and early retirement. Our analysis focuses on 401(k) saving, but applies more broadly to other forms of individual retirement saving. %B American Economic Review %I 90 %V 90 %P 297-302 %G eng %U https://www.jstor.org/stable/117239?seq=1 %N 2 %4 401(k) participation and balances/Retirement Wealth/Consumer Economics/Retirement Policies/Social Security and Public Pensions %$ 8652