Description: The 2020 ERISA Advisory Council of the Department of Labor had a project on Considerations for Recognizing and Addressing Participants with Diminished Capacity. I delivered testimony to the ERSIA Advisory Council on this topic in September 2020. This article summarizes some key points from the testimony and also offers ideas for how employers can help employees and retirees deal with these issues. There are two different audiences that employers deal with as a result of diminished capacity – the individuals whose capacity is diminished, and those who help them.

Description: This article presents the findings of an Urban Institute study sponsored by the Pension Section and the Actuarial Foundation examining the election of joint and survivor annuities by married adults. From Pension Section News, June 2004, Issue No. 55.

Description: This article helps illustrate that a guaranteed income stream in retirement has much more value than merely longevity protection. Used properly, a payout annuity is also a hedge against one's retirement nest egg evaporating, leaving the retiree living check to check on a fixed income only. The article will be of interest to those involved in product development and design, sales and marketing, and payout annuities or guaranteed withdrawal benefits in general.

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: This article discusses the challenges to today's retirement system. As part of the recent Re-envisioning Work and Retirement in the 21st Century symposium, held in Washington, D.C., attendees completed a Delphi survey covering challenges to today's retirement system. This article discusses the benefits of a Delphi survey and the results of this particular one. From Pension Section News, September 2006, No. 62.

Description: This paper identifies and discusses 10 ways in which Americans lack a realistic understanding of retirement saving.

Description: This article discusses the risks of retirement and how those risks impact attaining a secure retirement in a defined contribution world.

Description: This article summarizes a roundtable discussion moderated by Anna Rappaport. The purpose of the roundtable was to discuss a model of personal investing known as the Life–Cycle Model of Investing and Saving. This model is concerned with how individuals can find ways to smooth their consumption so that they have a roughly similar standard of living across different periods of time.