Description: Planning for retirement in North America has become much more challenging as the defined benefit system has declined. We must take more responsibility for ourselves. As we plan, many societal forces affect us. Both men and women are disadvantaged because Americans in particular are not very good savers. While pension plans and Social Security, or CPP/QPP/OAS in Canada, generally use the same formulas for men and women, often the results are different. This article focuses on the challenges women face in retirement.

Description: This article discusses the demographic trends as the “baby boomer” generation begins to retire, including implications for retirement plans, Social Security, and other considerations. Reprinted from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Economic Letter, Number 98–20, June 26, 1998.

Description: Understanding how life expectancy can impact retirement planning is an important aspect of preparing for a happy, healthy, and well-funded retirement. To provide information and insights on longevity, the SOA has launched its Age Wise series of infographics.

Description: Provides perspective on how risk has been shared in a variety of retirement and insurance arrangements, and suggestions some ideas for innovations and different risk sharing in the future. Traditional retirement program are defined benefit and defined contribution, which have very different methods of risk sharing. The new ideas share risk differently. Offers some history of retirement and risk sharing. Goal is to improve retirement security.

Description: This report provides an overview of post-retirement risks, how they are perceived, and ways to protect against them. It presents key findings on the major retirement risks explored in the 2009 Retirement Risk Survey and provides context for the results in relation to other studies.

Description: This is the Phase II report of a two–phase effort. The Phase I report, released in March 2009, consists of defining relevant and actionable consumer segments among middle–income/mid–level net worth households. This Phase II report defines a basic approach that could lead to a set of answers or 'solutions' that address the retirement risks faced by each segment. A second objective of Phase II is to provide insight regarding the nature of the retirement risks faced by varying segments of consumers and suggestions for solutions that address those risks.

Description: The SOA and the CIA are pleased to make available a research report assessing the impact of Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) enhancements.

Description: This report develops a financial fragility index to determine how fragile Americans are and also to explore characteristics of the financially fragile.

Description: This study builds on the prior studies, Measures of Retirement Benefit Adequacy and Improving Retirement Outcomes: Timing, Phasing, and Benefit Claiming, with a specific focus on how longevity impacts household financial needs in retirement and which strategies can best address these financial strains. A major conclusion from this research is that the risk of living long should be more carefully incorporated in household retirement planning.