Description: This is the Executive Summary of the results of a study, sponsored by the Society of Actuaries and the Actuarial Foundation, which assesses the extent to which retirement planning software programs help users understand post-retirement risks.

Description: With the decline in traditional defined benefit plans, cutbacks in Social Security already legislated, and further ones possibly needed to maintain solvency, retirees increasingly must rely on their own ability to manage their retirement income. Relatively few retirees purchase annuities, leaving them with investment and distribution decisions concerning their accumulated savings. Increasing life expectancy and improved health at older ages raise the issue of whether people should consider postponing retirement as a way of assuring adequate resources during retirement. During retirement, they face complex issues concerning how to manage various risks. Increasingly, people planning for retirement have access to financial planning software, much of it available over the internet for free. This study, sponsored by the Society of Actuaries and the Actuarial Foundation, assesses the extent to which the retirement planning programs analyzed help users understand post-retirement risks.

Description: This paper evaluates a number of hybrid pension plans, including hybrid plans used to provide social security benefits in some countries. The paper provides an overview of types of hybrid plans provided around the world.

Description: Retirement income can be provided by Social Security, employer-provided pension plans, personal savings and family support. With the growth of Social Security and employer-provided pensions, and the decline in birth rates and marriage rates, the role of families in the U.S. retirement system has declined.

Description: This paper evaluates a number of hybrid pension plans, including hybrid plans used to provide social security benefits in some countries. The paper provides an overview of types of hybrid plans provided around the world.

Description: The Society of Actuaries’ Retirement 20/20 project kicked off in 2006 with a conference titled “Building the Foundations for New Retirement Systems.” The conference focused on needs, risks and roles for the stakeholders in today’s retirement system, and discussed how to make social insurance, private pensions, private savings, annuities and other retirement plans work better in the 21st century. One key theme that emerged was that wherever possible, systems should be designed to self-adjust, specifically to correct for changes in economic and demographic conditions. The Pension Section Council of the SOA commissioned this paper to explore where self-adjusting systems are in place today and what they do and don’t do. Most self-adjusting mechanisms that exist today are in social insurance systems, and they often focus on ways to adjust for changes in longevity. The Pension Section Council hopes that this paper will spur researchers to develop more ways that self-adjusting mechanisms might work to shape social insurance and private retirement plans into the 21st century.

Description: This article discusses the shortfalls present in most retirement planning software. Some of these come from the design of the software and some from unsophisticated use of it. In any case, the resources needed for retirement are often understated.

Description: This is the Executive Summary of the results of a study, sponsored by the Society of Actuaries and the Actuarial Foundation, which assesses the extent to which retirement planning software programs help users understand post-retirement risks.