Retirement
Individual Account Retirement Plans: An Analysis of the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances
This Issue Brief examines the incidence of individual account plans among families, as well as the average amount of assets accumulated in these accounts, using the most recent data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF).
Will More of Us Work Forever? The 2006 Retirement Confidence Survey
This Issue Brief reports findings from the 16th annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), which suggests that many American workers are not ready to undertake the task of financial planning for their own retirement and face the prospect of having to work far longer than they expect.
Defined Benefit Plan Freezes: Who's Affected, How Much, and Replacing Lost Accruals
This new EBRI analysis quantifies how workers are likely to be affected by pension freezes, and how much they would have to save in a 401(k)—whether provided by their employer and/or saved by themselves—to offset the loss of accrued benefits from the pension freeze.
Retirement Plan Participation and Retirees’ Perception of Their Standard of Living
A new EBRI study shows the value of preserving lump-sum distributions from 401(k) and assets from other retirement plans when you switch jobs: “A significantly higher percentage of those who spent their lump-sum distributions entirely reported their standard of living (in retirement) as being somewhat or much worse than was reported by those who rolled over their entire distribution (24.5 percent compared with 16.2 percent),” the study says.
Employment-Based Retirement Plan Participation: Geographic Differences and Trends, 2004
This Issue Brief examines the level of participation by workers in public- and private-sector employment-based pension and retirement plans, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s March 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS), the most recent data currently available.
401(k) Plan Asset Allocation, Account Balances, and Loan Activity in 2004
This report updates research on 401(k) plan participant activity through year-end 2004, using the EBRI/ICI 401(k) database -- the largest database of its kind and an ongoing collaborative effort between the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and the Investment Company Institute (ICI). Among its key findings: Consistent participation in 401(k) plans remains essential to successful saving; equity investing remains popular in 401(k) plans; investment preferences are shifting to simpler options; loans are widely available, but rarely taken.
The Influence of Automatic Enrollment, Catch-Up, and IRA Contributions on 401(k) Accumulations at Retirement
Automatically enrolling new workers appears to be a significant factor in increasing account balances in 401(k) plans, with lower-income individuals benefiting the most, according to a new model developed by EBRI and the Investment Company Institute (ICI). The finding is important because employment-based 401(k) plans have become the dominant retirement savings option for millions of American workers, and the amount of retirement income many Americans will have when they reach 65 will depend to a large degree on how long they participate in a 401(k) plan, how much they contribute to the plan, and how they invest their 401(k) assets.