@article {10035, title = {How will retirement saving change by 2050? Prospects for the millennial generation}, year = {2019}, month = {03/2019}, pages = {1-51}, institution = {Brookings Institution}, type = {Working Paper}, address = {Washington, DC}, abstract = {In {\textquotedblleft}How Will Retirement Saving Change by 2050? Prospects for the Millennial Generation{\textquotedblright} William G. Gale, Hilary Gelfond, and Jason Fichtner consider prospects for retirement saving for members of the millennial generation, who will be between ages 54 and 69 in 2050. Adequacy of retirement saving preparation among current and near-retirees is marked by significant heterogeneity, a characteristic that will likely hold for Millennials as well. In preparing for retirement, Millennials will have several advantages relative to previous generations, such as more education, longer working lives, and more flexible work arrangements, but also several disadvantages, including having to take more responsibility for their own retirement plans and marrying and bearing children at later ages. The millennial generation contains a significantly higher percentage of minorities than previous generations. The authors find that minority households have tended to accumulate less wealth than whites in the past, even after controlling for income, education, and marital status, and the difference appears to be growing over time for black households relative to whites. Whether these trends persist is central to understanding how the Millennials will fare in retirement.}, keywords = {Future, Millenials, Public Policy, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction}, url = {https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/How-Will-Retirement-Saving-Change-by-2050.docx.pdf}, author = {William G. Gale and Gelfond, Hilary and Fichtner, Jason} } @article {9227, title = {How the growing gap in life expectancy may affect retirement benefits and reforms}, journal = {The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice}, volume = {42}, year = {2017}, month = {Jan-07-2017}, pages = {475-499}, keywords = {Life Expectancy, Mortality, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction, Social Security}, issn = {1018-5895}, doi = {10.1057/s41288-017-0057-0}, url = {http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41288-017-0057-0http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057/s41288-017-0057-0.pdfhttp://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41288-017-0057-0/fulltext.htmlhttp://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057/s41288-017-0057-0.pdf}, author = {Auerbach, Alan and Kerwin K. Charles and Courtney Coile and William G. Gale and Dana P Goldman and Lee, Ronald and Lucas, Charles and Orszag, Peter R. and Sheiner, Louise and Tysinger, Bryan and Weil, David and Wolfers, Justin and Rebeca Wong} } @article {5768, title = {Are all Americans saving {\textquoteright}optimally{\textquoteright} for retirement?}, number = {No. 2008-189}, year = {2009}, institution = {Michigan Retirement Research Center, University of Michigan}, address = {Ann Arbor, MI}, abstract = {Many people fear that Americans are preparing poorly for retirement. But developing rigorous evidence on this issue is difficult. In this paper we briefly discuss evidence on the adequacy of retirement wealth accumulation. We conclude that existing descriptive evidence does not seem consistent with dire assessments of poor financial preparation. We then extend the straightforward, but computationally complex dynamic programming approach used in our earlier work to assess the adequacy of retirement wealth preparation of Americans born before 1954. We find only 4 percent of HRS households have net worth below their optimal targets in 2004, though this percentage is somewhat higher for more recent HRS cohorts. While our work is preliminary, we find little evidence that Americans born before 1954 have prepared poorly for retirement.}, keywords = {Consumption and Savings, Restricted data, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction}, doi = {10.2139/ssrn.1337653}, author = {William G. Gale and John Karl Scholz and Ananth Seshadri} } @article {6994, title = {Lifetime earnings, social security benefits, and the adequacy of retirement wealth accumulation.}, journal = {Soc Secur Bull}, volume = {66}, year = {2005}, note = {Revision of CRR Working Paper 2004-10}, month = {2005}, pages = {38-57}, publisher = {66}, keywords = {Adult, Humans, Income, Middle Aged, Models, Econometric, Pensions, Retirement, Social Security, United States}, issn = {0037-7910}, url = {https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v66n1/v66n1p38.html}, author = {Engen, Eric M. and William G. Gale and Cori E. Uccello} } @article {5591, title = {Effects of Stock Market Fluctuations on the Adequacy of Retirement Wealth Accumulation}, number = {2004-16}, year = {2004}, institution = {Center for Retirement Research at Boston College}, address = {Boston}, abstract = {This paper examines the relation between fluctuations in the aggregate value of equities and the adequacy of households saving for retirement. We find that many and perhaps most households appear to be saving adequate amounts for retirement, but almost no link between stock values and the adequacy of retirement saving. Historical variation in equity values and ownership correlates poorly with historical variation in the adequacy of saving. Even a simulated 40 percent decline in stocks has little effect on the adequacy of saving. The results occur because equities are concentrated among households with significant amounts of other wealth.}, keywords = {Net Worth and Assets}, url = {https://crr.bc.edu/working-papers/effects-of-stock-market-fluctuations-on-the-adequacy-of-retirement-wealth-accumulation/}, author = {Engen, Eric M. and William G. Gale and Cori E. Uccello} } @inbook {5132, title = {What People Don{\textquoteright}t Know About Their Pensions and Social Security: An Analysis Using Linked Data from the Health and Retirement Study}, booktitle = {Public Policies and Private Pensions}, year = {2003}, note = {RDA 1996-005ProCite field[8]: eds.}, pages = {57-125}, publisher = {Brookings Institution}, organization = {Brookings Institution}, address = {Washington, DC}, abstract = {Pension plan descriptions from respondents to the 1992 Health and Retirement Study are compared with descriptions obtained from their employers. Earnings histories reported by respondents are compared with earnings histories from the Social Security Administration. The probability of linking employer pension data, which is two thirds for current jobs, and of obtaining permission to link an earnings history, which is over 70 percent, are not well explained by respondent characteristics. Half of respondents with linked pension data correctly identify plan type, and fewer than half identify, within one year, dates of eligibility for early and normal retirement benefits. Benefit reduction rates are essentially not reported. Respondents do better in reporting pension values, but the unexplained variation is still considerable. In contrast, respondent reported values together with other observables, account for 80 percent of the variation in pension values and 75 percent of the variation in covered earnings measured from linked records. Thus prospects are good for imputing plan values, but not for imputing the location or size of early retirement incentives. Our findings raise questions about how well respondents understand complex pension and Social Security rules.}, keywords = {Consumption and Savings, Employment and Labor Force, Income, Pensions, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction, Social Security}, url = {https://www.nber.org/papers/w7368}, author = {Alan L Gustman and Thomas L. Steinmeier}, editor = {William G. Gale and John B. Shoven and Mark J. Warshawsky} } @article {5480, title = {Are Households Saving Adequately for Retirement? A Progress Report on Three Projects}, year = {2001}, note = {RDA 1998-006}, institution = {CRR Conference Paper, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College}, abstract = {This paper summarizes the current status of three research projects on the adequacy of households saving for retirement. The first examines how changes in the latter half of the 1990s, in particular the stock market boom, have affected the extent to which households are preparing adequately for saving. The second explores the implications of allowing for variable leisure and endogenous retirement in developing a simulation model that is used to generate benchmark values of adequate wealth accumulation. The third investigates how data on lifetime earnings can be used to improve estimates of how well households are actually preparing for retirement and to show biases that occur when using data on current earnings.}, keywords = {Consumption and Savings}, author = {Engen, Eric M. and William G. Gale and Cori E. Uccello} } @article {6632, title = {The Adequacy of Household Saving}, journal = {Brookings Papers on Economic Activity}, volume = {2}, year = {1999}, note = {RDA 1998-006}, pages = {65-165}, publisher = {2}, abstract = {This paper shows that, in a life-cycle simulation model in which people save for retirement and due to uncertain future earnings and lifespan, there will be a distribution of optimal wealth-earnings ratios, even among observationally equivalent households. Therefore even low levels of wealth can be consistent with optimization. Using HRS and SCF data, we find that more than half of married households where the husband works full-time have wealth -earnings ratios exceeding the optimal median simulated ratio for households with the same characteristics. The model understates accumulation among households with high wealth-earnings ratios. Both results suggest accumulation is adequate for most such households. However, there is evidence of undersaving at the 5th and the 25th percentiles. We also reconcile most previous studies that have been interpreted as showing inadequate household saving with our results.}, keywords = {Adult children, Consumption and Savings, Event History/Life Cycle, Income, Net Worth and Assets, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction}, url = {https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1999/06/1999b_bpea_engen.pdf}, author = {Engen, Eric M. and William G. Gale and Cori E. Uccello} } @article {9101, title = {Perspectives on the household saving rate}, number = {1}, year = {1999}, pages = {181-224}, institution = {The Brookings Institution}, address = {Washington, DC}, abstract = {IN SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 1998, the personal saving rate as measured in the national income and product accounts (NIPAs) dipped below zero for the first time since the Great Depression. For the entire year, personal saving totaled just 0.5 percent of personal disposable income, the lowest rate since 1933. And in the advance estimate for the first quarter of 1999, the personal saving rate fell to {\textendash}0.5 percent. These results are just the latest steps in the decline of the NIPA personal saving rate, which, after averaging 7.6 percent in the 1960s, 8.2 percent in the 1970s, 6.7 percent in the 1980s, and 4.8 percent in 1990{\textendash}94, fell to 3.0 percent in 1996 and 2.2 percent in 1997. Although both academic publications and the popular press have repeatedly warned of a saving crisis over the last twenty years, the virtual disappearance of personal saving since 1998 has brought the issue back into the limelight.}, keywords = {Restricted data, Retirement Planning and Satisfaction, Saving}, url = {https://www.brookings.edu/bpea-articles/perspectives-on-the-household-saving-rate/}, author = {William G. Gale and Sabelhaus, J. and Hall, R. E.} } @inbook {5145, title = {Effects of Pensions on Household Wealth Accumulation: Implications of the Shift Toward Defined Contribution Plans}, booktitle = {Living With Defined Contribution Pensions}, year = {1998}, note = {ProCite field 6 : In ProCite field 8 : eds.}, publisher = {Univ. of Pennsylvania Press and Pension Research Council}, organization = {Univ. of Pennsylvania Press and Pension Research Council}, abstract = {Pension wealth constitutes a sizable portion of households{\textquoteright} retirement resources. Close to half of civilian nonagricultural workers participate in pension plans.{\textquoteright} Future income flows from private pensions accounted for 20 percent of the wealth of households aged 65-69 in 1991 (Poterba, Venti, and Wise 1994, table 1). Thus the relation between pensions and other household wealth can have important implications for policy issues, such as how to raise the saving rate or assure adequate saving for retirement, as well as for more fundamental issues, such as how people make economic decisions about the future.}, keywords = {Net Worth and Assets, Pensions}, url = {https://pensionresearchcouncil.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/0-8122-3439-1-6.pdf}, author = {William G. Gale and Milano, Joseph}, editor = {Olivia S. Mitchell and Scheiber, S.} }