Description: The Aging and Retirement Strategic Research Program is pleased to make available a report summarizing the research phase of a multi-phase project leading to publication of a Conversation Guide to plan for changes in financial capacity and decision-making.

Description: 2007 Risks and Process of Retirement Survey Report - Understanding and Managing the Risks of Retirement

Description: Discussant comments for the 2009 Housing Wealth monograph paper, “The Impact of Diminishing Wealth on Future Consumption: How Housing Wealth Affects Retirement Planning.” The goal of the paper is to help financial professionals and plan sponsors recognize that retirement planning is being influenced by new factors and suggests ways they can readjust retirement planning strategies. The discussant has additional suggestions for financial professionals.

Description: This is a review of 'Restructuring Retirement Risks,' a collection of papers that examines retirement risks, edited by David Blitzstein, Olivia Mitchell, and Stephen Utkus. The papers, which are a must–read for serious students of retirement systems and a good introduction for those not as familiar with the issues, explore the stresses being placed on those systems and ever–increasing uncertainty as Baby Boomers begin to move into retirement.

Description: The article is an interview with Barbara Hogg who summarizes the results of a survey of Americans about their awareness of financial risks faced in retirement and how they are managing those risks. The survey was commissioned by the SOA and is the 11th iteration of such a survey.

Description: The purpose of the latest in this series, the 2005 Risks and Process of Retirement Survey, is to evaluate Americans’ awareness of such risks, how their awareness has changed since 2003, and how it affects the way they manage their finances. This report focuses on attitudes toward longevity specifically in the context of planning for and managing the financial risk of outliving assets in retirement, and relates the public’s understanding of these issues to other studies. Three other reports cover in greater depth the process of retirement, other post-retirement risks, and retirement issues of special concern to women. The 2001, 2003 and 2005 studies separately analyzed current retirees and those not yet retired, referred to in these reports as ‘pre-retirees.’

Description: This report provides key findings from the 2005 Risks and Process of Retirement Survey related to what people mean by retirement and how they retire. It also examines the significance of potential labor shortages and the possibility of people working longer.

Description: An interview with actuary Lee Gold reveals preliminary results of a recent SOA research project which surveyed employees on what retirement plan features they prefer.

Description: Many retirement actuaries have experience developing, implementing, and monitoring Liability Driven Investing (LDI) strategies for plan sponsors. These strategies typically involve modifying a plan’s investment strategy to remove a significant portion of the investment and interest rate risk now or at some point in the future when specific triggers are met. The tactics often involve the use of fixed income assets to cash flow and/or duration match the liabilities. In the spirit of helping actuaries expand their roles in an evolving defined contribution world, this article explores the application of LDI and derisking strategies within defined contribution and individual retirement accounts. The economic theory behind this approach is called the lifecycle hypothesis, or lifecycle finance. The benefits of the lifecycle finance method are that it provides a safe approach to save for retirement and a secure source of floor income during retirement. Similar to pension plans, each individual has his or her own idiosyncratic needs, wants, and risks that should be considered. Actuaries are uniquely situated to help defined contribution plan sponsors, individuals, and even themselves implement the lifecycle finance approach by developing and distributing tools and methods that focus on income (rather than wealth), LDI strategies, and personalization.

Description: The Society of Actuaries’ Post Retirement Needs and Risks Committee has made available the full report for its biennial survey, Risks and Process of Retirement.