Description: Current DC plans do an extremely poor job at managing investment and longevity risk for plan participants. This leads to suboptimal outcomes: retirement income is potentially too low, assets are subject to catastrophic losses and may even run out. Insurance solutions—most notably annuities—address some of these issues, but are expensive and not very much liked by consumers. This paper explores how Enhanced Risk Sharing Savings Accounts (“ERiSSA”), consisting of a combination of individual DC accounts with a collective risk sharing and return redistribution mechanism coupled with deferred annuities, might be able to strike a better overall balance for consumers.

Description: Living beyond ones life expectancy poses many challenges. Among them are financial issues. Though there are products and strategies available that retirees could use to mitigate this financial risk they are seldom used. Reasons range from high cost, lack of awareness of the available options, and general underestimation of longevity risk. This paper poses the question as to whether the federal government can provide a solution to this potential problem in a fair and cost efficient manner. Ideas are presented as well as a discussion of the pros and cons of such a program concept.