Search

There is more than one way for a surviving spouse to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from their decedent spouse's retirement account. It can be done following a rollover of the decedent's retirement plan assets or IRA to their own IRA. It can be done after treating the decedent's IRA as their own. It can also be done by affirmatively electing to delay taking RMDs as an inherited account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matching contributions for qualified student loan payments (QSLPs) are a new option available for use in any 401(k), 403(b), government 457(b), and SIMPLE IRA plan. Under this alternative feature, a plan sponsor may choose to treat an employee's qualified student loan payments as an elective deferral and make matching contributions to the retirement plan based on those loan payments. This design opportunity is optional, and it offers employers the choice to support employees with student loan debt in a unique way. The prospect of designing a plan to match student loan repayments offers both advantages and disadvantages for plan sponsors. The question that needs to be answered is whether your clients should amend their plan to adopt this new idea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pension-linked emergency savings accounts (PLESAs) are a new option available for use in any defined-contribution plan. They originated with the SECURE Act 2.0 and were recently clarified by releases made by the Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service. They present administrative challenges for plan sponsors in exchange for access to an emergency savings account linked to the retirement plan for plan participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retirement plans can create strong financial incentives that have important labor market implications, and many states have adopted alternative plan designs that significantly change these incentives. The authors use longitudinal data to investigate the impact of Washington State's 1996 introduction of a hybrid retirement plan on late-career attrition. The unique setup of Washington's plans allows them to provide empirical evidence on the influence of financial incentives created by statutory retirement eligibility thresholds. Findings show that despite facing very different financial incentives, teachers enrolled in the hybrid and traditional plans respond similarly to reaching a key retirement eligibility threshold. The authors hypothesize that teachers are anchoring to the eligibility thresholds, muting the influence of the financial incentives. They also provide evidence that, in the presence of bright-line eligibility thresholds that can anchor workers' separation behavior, commonly used structural models may overpredict workers' responsiveness to the financial incentives embedded in retirement plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a rich, calibrated life-cycle model, we show that well-designed mandatory pension plans significantly improve the welfare of individuals procrastinating on savings, and even improve most rational individuals' welfare through a return tax advantage and fair annuitization. For a group of heterogeneous savers, in terms of preferences and sophistication, the best plan has contributions of 10% of income from age 30, a glidepath investment strategy, payouts following a variable lifelong annuity, and options to choose a different investment strategy and to modify the annuitization feature. This plan generates an average welfare gain of $175,000 per individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From a public policy standpoint, it is now generally agreed that gig workers and small businesses should have easy access to simple, low-cost ways to save for a satisfactory level of financial security in their retirement years. The harsh reality is that more than one-half of all private sector workers--approximately 55 million Americans--do not have access to retirement savings programs through their employer. However, workers are 15 times more likely to save for their retirement if they have a way to save through an employment-based plan. We look at pooled-employer plans (PEPs) as possible solutions to this need. A PEP may offer an attractive and cost-effective alternative to a single-employer retirement plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retirement planning strategies, decisions, and actions are linked to different phases of the life cycle, but late-in-life issues require complex decisions and actions that can easily be forgotten in planning. This article focuses on four main topics—health and longterm care; financial management; housing and transportation; and support systems— and provides information about resources to help in dealing with them. Advisors need to decide which decisions and actions they will help clients address. Retirement and retirement planning is certainly about money, but it is also about how clients will live their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use administrative data from a large public university to study employee responses to mandatory retirement saving, which represent a policy alternative to nudges. In response to a substantial increase in mandatory saving, we observe full crowd-out of voluntary saving for a subset of low-contributing low earners and high-contributing high earners, but otherwise little crowd-out for most employees. On average, only 30 percent of the mandatory contributions are offset by lower voluntary contributions. Our results suggest that mandatory retirement saving is likely to increase total retirement saving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early 2021, President Xi Jinping introduced a national goal of achieving "common prosperity," which aims to reduce the yawning wealth gap between China's rich and poor. At a time when China's economy is slowing, the implementation of common prosperity involves an unprecedented effort to maintain domestic stability and social quiescence amid intensifying geopolitical tensions. The party-state has sought to avoid provoking public discontent by pooling regional funds for social protection programs rather than pursuing taxation-based redistribution among social classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is it foolish to talk or write about hope in the face of widespread existential crises? Our answer is 'no'. On the contrary, hope is more necessary the bleaker things become. In this article, we explore hope as a practice. Influenced by the abolition geography of Ruth Wilson Gilmore, we build on John Holloway's argument that such practices start from ourselves, where we are and our own capacities, and overflow that which contains us. We write as resident‐activists within three community organisations in the place we live in. Extending existing geographical literature, we show how our resident‐activism is distinct from, yet also entangled with, scholar‐activism and the struggles, contradictions and potential solidarities found in the UK's marketised universities. This way of working can itself be seen as a practice of hope. The article further explores practices of hope that emerge within the three organisations. Though emplaced, these practices are not confined in space or time, drawing rather on history as a resource and connecting with broader national and international processes. The article concludes by using Holloway's concept of rage‐joy to bring together practices of hope across the three organisations and among us as resident‐activists and participants in industrial action over pay, casualisation, workloads, equalities and pensions in UK universities. The result is a capacity to see the human in each other, a necessary step in resisting resurgent fascist politics and addressing existential crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study how welfare states regimes influence the effect of episodes of fiscal consolidations on the four main components of the welfare state: social investment, pensions, healthcare and labour market insurance. Welfare state regimes are associated with distinct social policy legacies that feedback into political competition by shaping the size and influence of different coalitions of constituents. Using data from 1980 to 2014 in 16 OECD countries, we find that labour market insurance is more vulnerable to consolidations in Liberal regimes, while social investments are more resistant to consolidations in Nordic regimes. In the Continental regime, which overlaps with Social Health Insurance systems, healthcare is more resistant to consolidations. Finally, pensions are more resistant to consolidations in the Southern regime. These findings contribute to the study of the comparative political economy of welfare state retrenchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the effects of emigration on the sustainability of the Pension system in North Macedonia. In this study three different sets of tests are used for empirical analysis: a stochastic forecasting method in order to predict the movement of demographic and fiscal variables in the future; a time series investigation in order to quantify the effect of emigration on pension expenditure, and a microsimulation dynamic model in order to analyze the potential effects of different pension reform alternatives on the sustainability of the pension system in North Macedonia. The results suggest that mass emigration has a significant negative effect on pension sustainability in North Macedonia. The results suggest that massive emigration of young people from North Macedonia will negatively affect the growth prospect and labor market in the future. The results suggest that immediate reforms are needed and gradually increasing the contribution rate to 20% and retirement age for men and women to 65 years would stabilize the Pension system in North Macedonia in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine how the level of perceived work ability and its changes over time are associated with the risk of full disability pension (DP) among those receiving partial DP. Methods: We retrieved survey data on perceived work ability and covariates (sociodemographic factors and health behaviors) from a cohort study of Finnish public sector employees at two time points: 2008 and 2012 and linked them with register data on DP obtained from the Finnish Centre for Pensions up to the end of 2018. Participants had begun receiving partial DP in 2008 and responded to either the 2008 survey (n = 159) or both surveys (n = 80). We used Cox regression for the analyses. Results: During the follow-up, 61 (38%) of those receiving partial DP transitioned to full DP. Those with perceived poor work ability were at a higher risk of full DP (HR 1.93; 95% CI 1.11–3.38) than those with at least moderate work ability, after adjustment for covariates. During four years of receiving partial DP, perceived work ability decreased among 36% of the participants, and remained unchanged or improved among 64%. Change in work ability was not associated with a risk of full DP. Conclusion: Among those receiving partial DP, perceived poor work ability was a risk factor for full DP. Our findings highlight the importance of monitoring the level of perceived work ability of those receiving partial DP to enable identifying individuals at an increased risk of full DP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firms have attempted to de-risk their pension obligations by offering its pension beneficiaries a lump-sum distribution instead of the guaranteed payments to be paid to retirees in a defined benefit pension plan. We examine the stock market reaction to the announcement of these offerings using event study methodologies. We find a statistically significant positive cumulative abnormal returns for the 20-day period prior to the event, the 20-day period after the event, and for the entire 41-day event period surrounding the announcement. We also find that the cumulative abnormal returns are higher the more liabilities a firm has and increases with the level of funding of the pension plan. Our results contribute to the literature on pensions by finding that firms that buy out their pensioners' defined benefit payments via a lump-sum distribution experience an increase in firm value. There is a significant amount of analysis of such buyouts in the literature and in the press, but our results are the first to examine and document the increase in value derived from such pension changes. We also more fully develop the motivations for such events from a cost/benefit perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic insecurity represents an existential threat to many workers, not least those in the Creative and Cultural Sector (CCS). Based on recent survey data from Ghanaian musicians gathered between April 2022 and March 2023, this paper presents indicative findings which demonstrate a persistent pension savings gap, with only about one in seven musicians in the sample (14.6%) reporting participation in a pension scheme – explained by both demand-side reasons (i.e. indecision about enrolment, not having the financial wherewithal to contribute regularly or not knowing about existing pension schemes) and supply-side reasons (i.e. limited pension options developed with the involvement of musicians). The paper also finds that while education level, age, location, and marital/family status appear to be important factors, in relative terms, there was little evidence to suggest that any group was more likely than the other to participate in a pension scheme. To improve pensions uptake, the paper argues that a long overdue, deliberate policy strategy should involve piloting a dedicated group personal pension scheme for musicians and testing savings commitments in the case of voluntary schemes over the long term and short term, respectively, with both going hand in hand with pension literacy programmes and incentives, wherever necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Problems such as the disruption of the income-expenditure balance and the decrease in active-passive ratio, which emerged at the end of the 1990s in Turkey, brought the need for reforms in the social security system. As a result of these reform efforts, a private pension system, complementary to the existing social security system, was put into practice. To our knowledge, no study has examined the private pension system using the Cox regression model, accelerated failure time models, and machine learning methods together under survival analysis. In this work, we show that machine learning methods provide non parametric alternatives to traditional survival models such as Cox regression. In addition to the statistics obtained, other important results are that socio-economic problems such as gender inequality, education inequality and income inequality can also be seen in private pension systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Public Retirement Research Lab (PRRL) was established to provide reliable data on public-sector defined contribution (DC) retirement plan participants. The PRRL Database is the repository for the data collected by the PRRL. To fully understand the impact of ongoing plan participation, it is crucial to analyze a consistent group of participants (a longitudinal sample) who have been part of the database for an extended period. This paper presents the first longitudinal study that analyzes public retirement plan participants who were present every year from 2019 through 2021. The study tracks balances, contributions, asset allocations, and loan activity of 1.1 million plan participants who held positive defined contribution account balances in the years 2019 through 2021 in the PRRL Database, covering a three-year period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWho is protected by social security? This article explores this question by tracing the chronological sequence of inclusion into old age protection in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. The focus lies on how legislation defines the groups that are covered by old age pensions. We argue that the old age protection system transformed from being aimed at protecting people working for the state, towards covering diverse societal groups and aspiring to universal social protection. The Ottoman Empire institutionalised its centuries-old system of protection of elderly state employees surprisingly early, through pension funds in the late nineteenth century. The Republic of Turkey maintained this approach for several decades, pointing to continuities between the late Ottoman Empire and the early Republic. From the mid-twentieth century onwards, the state transformed old age protection with new schemes for mostly employment-based groups. The analysis reveals intriguing parallels between political inclusion and inclusion in old age protection, with key expansions in the scope of old age protection mirroring shifts in the political regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Summary: Scrutiny over the quality of police work continues to increase, at the same time that a recruitment crisis may hinder policing services. Moreover, this crisis exists despite numerous work incentives for officers, which are potentially competitive salaries, early pensions, and legal protections. Using a sample of 604 undergraduate students—a natural recruiting pool for police agencies—this study explores the predictors of students' interest in a career in policing. In addition, we conducted a randomized survey experiment to identify the effect of work incentives on students' willingness to apply to be a police officer upon graduation. Specifically, we manipulated the starting salary, years of service until pension eligibility, and the protection afforded against lawsuits. Finally, we tested whether the effect of these incentives differs across the quality of applicants (i.e., grade point average [GPA], ability to pass existing application criteria, and subjective qualities that comprise honesty, teamwork, and compassion) and their preexisting interest in a career in policing. We found that students are generally uninterested in becoming police officers, particularly when their GPA is high. Though the starting salary was the most impactful of all incentives, some lawsuit protection is key for enticing the best students. In contrast, conditions for pension had only modest if any effects. Policy Implications: Recruiting is key to improving the quality of policing, particularly when many potential candidates are overlooking the career. However, research on the causes and consequences of police recruitment strategies is limited. This study implements rigorous research methods to investigate how to increase the pool of high‐quality applicants to police agencies. Findings support sensible and potentially cost‐effective policy decisions in regard to police recruiting, which should focus on increasing the starting salary, and on more effectively communicating the value of other existing benefits of the career that comprise lawsuit protection and attractive pension plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAlthough working men and women share common retirement concerns, women encounter unique challenges in securing their retirement. These challenges arise from factors such as part-time work, intermittent work histories, and potential wealth disparities. Marital status also exerts a profound influence on retirement decisions. Marital status significantly impacts their financial security as they approach retirement. This study investigates the intricate relationship between gender, marital status, and theory of planned behavior factors that influence retirement planning among older adults. Utilizing data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and RAND, the research analyzed 2,657 participants aged 50 to 62, all of whom reported full or part-time employment. Also, the research leveraged the theory of planned behavior to examine motivational factors affecting retirement planning. The study’s findings highlight the significant association of gender with expected retirement timing, revealing that married women typically anticipate retiring earlier than both unmarried women and men. In addition, older adults who secure retirement resources tend to retire earlier. It is important to develop tailored policies and initiatives to address the specific retirement challenges women face. It is imperative to develop retirement support systems that consider the gender, marital statuses, and retirement resources of older adults, and to give special attention to those who are vulnerable. This study provides valuable insights into the intricate interplay of gender, marital status, retirement motivation factors and retirement planning among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using an intersectional lens, this study analyses data from a nationally representative sample in Iceland, examining violence among marginalized groups of different social locations. The results highlight the precarious position of disabled women and show a significant increase of risk of violence with each marginalized social location women inhabit. Results illustrate how precarity and exposure increases for multiply marginalized women, demonstrating the importance of considering the social dimensions of violence. The article argues for the importance of advancing critical dialogue and research on violence, using an intersectional frame and including factors such as disability, gender, sexual orientation, and financial strain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Few studies have used rigorous causal analysis to examine the difference in health effects between abrupt and gradual transitions from full-time employment to full retirement. Methods: Data were obtained from 10,253 individuals aged 50 years and older from the 2005–2019 Longitudinal Survey of Middle-aged and Older Adults conducted in Japan. An instrumental variable approach was used to determine the causal relationship between retirement pathways and health by exploiting the public pension eligibility age as the instrument. Results: Abruptly retired individuals were more likely to have physical limitation and less likely to have depression than those not yet retired. In contrast, those who fully retired through a gradual transition were less likely to have physical limitation and more likely to have depression than those not yet retired. Discussion: Retirement pathways have different effects on physical and mental health, providing important implication for labor and health policies in aging societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using rich Finnish population level registers, we examine the impact of fusing a flexible early retirement pathway with a more stringent pathway, without changing eligibility conditions, so-called 'relabelling', on individual application behaviour. Our findings show that among affected cohorts the likelihood of applying for (successfully claiming) disability-related early retirement declined by 1.8 (1.5) percentage points equivalent to a relative drop of approximately 37 % (39 %) following the reform. Individuals with below tertiary level education and stronger lifetime labour market attachment exhibit a stronger behavioural response to the reform. We find tentative evidence of individual's bringing forward the age at which they substitute to a competing early retirement pathway designed to keep individuals in the labour market albeit on a part time basis. Our findings highlight the importance of targeted awareness building aimed at particular socioeconomic groups such as those with low levels of education when policymakers seek to consolidate early retirement programmes with differing pre-reform eligibility criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large percentage of U.S. households arrive at retirement with little or no financial wealth. Empirical evidence suggests that many of these households undertook little or no planning for retirement while young. We demonstrate how the decision to avoid planning and saving for retirement while young can arise as an optimal choice made by forward-looking, utility maximizing households facing an exogenous retirement date. In our model, boundedly rational households select the length of their planning horizon optimally each period, in addition to making an optimal consumption and saving decision. Planning is costly insofar as households must expend effort, cognitive or otherwise, to plan for the future. In a calibrated version of our model, the average household avoids planning and saving for retirement while young and, as a result, arrives at retirement with less than one-fifth of the wealth that they otherwise would have accumulated had they instead planned for their entire remaining lifetime, as in a standard life-cycle model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine whether not-for-profit organizations actively manage their pension accounting assumptions and whether their assumptions are, as prior research suggests, more aggressive than those of for-profit organizations. Using a 17-year panel dataset collected from audited financial statements, we compare the accounting assumptions (the expected rate of return and the discount rate) of not-for-profit and for-profit firms. We also examine the not-for-profit sample alone to test for accounting bias motivated by various financial incentives. We model accounting assumptions as levels (between-firms) as well as changes over time (within-firms). Contrary to prior research, we find no evidence that not-for-profits use more aggressive assumptions than for-profits. Furthermore, we find that most of the accounting biases of not-for-profits are explained by between-firm variation rather than within-firm variation, suggesting that although not-for-profits use biased assumptions, they may not actively adjust them to target financial benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Too few institutional investors are prepared to invest in young and innovative companies. This hampers the long-term growth prospects of the German economy. Instead, institutional investors in Germany hold more conservative portfolios than their European counterparts, investing heavily in bonds. Building up supplementary funded pensions and removing barriers to investing in riskier but growth-enhancing activities can help mobilise more growth capital in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of FinanzRundschau is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

I investigate heterogeneity across occupational characteristics in the effect of retirement eligibility on mental health in the United Kingdom. I use K‐means clustering to define three occupational clusters, differing across multiple dimensions. I estimate the effect of retirement eligibility using a Regression Discontinuity Design, allowing the effect to differ by cluster. The effects of retirement eligibility are beneficial, and greater in two clusters: one comprised of white‐collar jobs in an office setting and another of blue‐collar jobs with high physical demands and hazards. The cluster with smaller benefits mixes blue‐ and white‐collar uncompetitive jobs with high levels of customer interaction. The results have implications for the distributional effect of raising the retirement age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Old‐age state pension is central to European welfare states. Despite the growing number of migrants in Europe, little is known about their attitudes towards state pension. Pension systems are designed for a ‘sedentary’ population, as they require many years of contribution or residency in the country. This often affects first‐generation migrants, who arrive in the residence country only at a later point in their lives. In this paper, we draw on self‐interest theory, which is commonly used to explain individuals' support towards welfare institutions and theorize on how the migration experience adds to the standard model of self‐interest in relation to support for government spending on old‐age state pensions. Hence, we move beyond traditional indicators of self‐interest such as education and employment status and we test hypotheses on how migrant‐specific characteristics like length of stay and settlement intention in the residence country are related to migrants' support for government spending on old‐age state pensions. We use data from the Migrants' Welfare State Attitudes (MIFARE) survey (2016), the first cross‐national survey that focuses on migrants' attitudes towards the welfare state that was collected in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands among nine different migrant groups from within and outside the EU. We find that migrants living in the country for over 5 years and those with longer settlement intentions have a higher support for government spending on pensions. We conclude that it is crucial to take migrants' unique migration experiences into account when assessing their attitudes towards state pension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the age-varying mortality risk associated with different labour market status categories. Methods: Data from a population-based survey carried out among adults aged 30–62 years in Finnmark in 1987/1988 were linked to the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry to identify all deaths occurring by December 2017. We used flexible parametric survival models to examine the age-varying associations between different labour market status categories (no paid work/homemaker, part-time work, full-time work, unemployment benefits, sick leave/rehabilitation allowance, and disability pension) and mortality. Results: Men with part-time work, unemployment benefits, sick leave/rehabilitation allowance, or disability pension had an increased mortality risk compared with men with full-time work; however, these findings were restricted to ages below 60–70 years, varying with labour market status category. For women, excess mortality was linked to disability pension in the younger age groups; in older age groups it was linked to the labour market status category no paid work/homemaker. Non-employment was associated with low education level compared with full-time employment. Conclusions: The study showed increased mortality risk for some non-employment categories, with decreasing relative risk with age. Our findings suggest that the increased mortality risk is partly explained by health, pre-existing illnesses, and health-related behaviour and partly by other factors, such as social network and economic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Extending working life is considered as an important initiative to respond to the population aging and pension payment dilemma. This study aimed to investigate whether work after retirement is related to improved health‐related quality of life. Methods: We used two waves of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2011 and 2018. Work after retirement was ascertained based on self‐reported retirement and work status, and health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) was measured with the three‐level EuroQol five‐dimensions. The impact of work after retirement on HRQOL was analyzed using the propensity score matching with difference‐in‐difference approach. Results: A total of 1043 retirees were included. The results showed that work after retirement was associated with significant improvement in HRQOL among retirees (β = 0.072, P < 0.001). Heterogeneity analyses did not show specificity on sex (P for sex interaction >0.05), but older‐aged retirees seemed more sensitive to the benefits of work after retirement on HRQOL than their younger‐aged counterparts (≥65 years: β = 0.167, P < 0.001 vs <65 years: β = −0.047, P > 0.05; P for age interaction = 0.010). Conclusions: Work after retirement shows a positive impact on HRQOL among community‐dwelling adults in China. Policy‐makers should take the health of retirees into account when implementing policies related to delayed retirement, and reduce health inequity. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 722–729. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although financial trust has been modeled as a critical predictor of retirement financial planning activities, insufficient understanding has been developed concerning the relationship between financial trust and the effectiveness of the model of retirement financial planning. This current research creatively evaluated the moderating role of financial trust in the model of retirement financial planning in a sample of young working adults in Shanghai and Shenzhen, China (N = 422). Results presented evidence to support financial trust strengthened the pathways in the model of retirement financial planning. For example, social support was positively and significantly linked to retirement financial behaviors in the subsample reporting high financial trust but not among those with low trust; Risk tolerance was positively and significantly associated with retirement financial planning behaviors in the high-trust subsample but not in the low-trust subsample; Future time perspectives positively and significantly connected to retirement goal clarity in the high-trust but not low-trust respondents. Our findings improve the understanding of the model of retirement financial planning by increasing its complexity and providing new entry points to enhance retirement financial planning, namely promoting financial trust among the public. The results also propose a potential mechanism that can be used to explain how manipulation of financial trust will lead to better retirement financial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of pensions has become increasingly topical. This paper presents the ordered weighted averaging real average pension (OWARAP) operator. The OWARAP operator is based on the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) operator and calculates the future average retirement benefit taking into account price changes. Moreover, this work extends the OWARAP operator by using order-inducing variables, generalized means, and probabilities. This paper ends by analyzing the applicability of the OWARAP operator and its extensions in forecasting the real average Social Security benefits for retired workers in each state of the United States (U.S.). The results demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed approach in retirement decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Çalışma ve Toplum is the property of Calisma ve Toplum and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

A common problem in systems and control theory is to provide an approximation to non-linear systems. We provide a novel approach as a general solution to this problem originally conceived by Gamkrelidze. We consider and solve a general approximation problem which provides the fundamentals for various switching-type systems thus encompassing a wide range of systems theory problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to explore the situations and socio-economic and health-related factors associated with employment of older men and women in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach: This study used the nationally representative data in 2019 with a sample size of 3,049 older persons (those aged 60 and over). This study applied logistic regression analyses. Findings: This study found that there were significant differences in employment rates between various groups of older men and women in terms of age group, residential place, marital status and educational level. Controlling for age, education, marital status, place of residence and (in) sufficient income for daily living, the results from logistic models indicated that health issues were strongly associated with lower probability to be employed for both genders. In all tests and regression models, that age and health condition were consistently related with lower employment probability of older persons implied an important consideration in raising normal retirement ages for both men and women. Research limitations/implications: Due to limitation of the cross-sectional data, this research could not explore how health influences older people's employment overtime. Practical implications: Findings of this research provide important and adaptive policy insights for Vietnam to take advantage of older workers for economic growth under an aging population. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this has been among the first studies exploring the role of health, which was presented by different indicators, determining employment of older men and women in Vietnam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the first implementation of the state‐run retirement savings program in Oregon, known as OregonSaves, in 2017. It offers early insights into the substantial impact of this mandated program on retirement savings among previously uncovered private workers. Results from difference‐in‐difference models using SIPP data indicate a 12 percent increase in Individual Retirement Account (IRA) ownership among Oregon workers after the program's roll‐out. Notably, the study discerns significant gains for lower‐income, single, and older workers, as well as workers of small‐size firms who previously lacked retirement savings plan coverage. Findings also suggest additional savings resulting from the mandate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As some of the largest institutional investors in the United States, public pension funds wield considerable power over inuestment decisions. A recent trend highlights this extraordinary power: state pension funds have started exploiting their retirees ' pensions to force inuestment companies to invest in accordance with their respective states' political priorities. Nowhere is this trend more obvious than in the environmental, social, and governance field. On one hand, states like Maine haue passed legislation prohibiting publicpension funds from inuesting in fossil fuels companies. On the other hand, states like Texas haue passed laws prohibiting state entities from doing business with companies that oppose the fossil fuel and gun manufacturing industries. Investment companies operating across state lines are therefore caught between a rock and a hard place : continue investing in fossil fuels and risk antagonizing liberal states like Maine or diuest from fossil fuels and lose business from conseruatiue states like Texas. Pension funds can exploit public retirees' funds for political ends because of a subtle fiduciary orientation surrounding public pension funds. Whereas private pension funds are governed by uniform federal laws that center fiduciary duties around pension plan participants and beneficiaries, public pension funds are governed by a patchwork of state laws that center fiduciary duties around the funds themselves. Thus, states are free to tailor their own pension fund investment rules as they see fit, sometimes at the expense of retirees. The result is an assortment offifty different legal systems, piled on top of the recent trend toward politicizing inuestment decisions. Often, as the cases of Texas and Maine show, investment companies will find themselves unable to simultaneously comply with the various public pension fund requirements from state to state. Moreover, because state treasurers exercise almost unbridled discretion ouer inuestment allocations, they can all but freely abuse pensions funds in pursuit ofpolitical ends. With trillions of dollars under management, retirees stand to lose the most. This Noteargues thatpublicpension inuestment laws need urgent reform and standardization to prevent sacrificing retirees' financial security in seruice Of Political priorities. To do so, state legislatures should pass laws modeled after the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, which governs private pension plans. Such standardization will ease the burden of compliance for investment companies and inuestment aduisers while simultaneously forcing pension fund managers to prioritize retirees' pecuniary gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the substitution between pension wealth and household saving. To identify the effect of reductions in social security pension wealth on household saving, we utilize variations in changes in social security pension wealth induced by Norway's 2011 reform across different cohorts, time periods, and sectors. Our study focuses on the saving behaviors of individuals between the ages of 57 and 61, and we find that the annual saving rate increased by around 1.4 percentage points after the reform. When considering the overall life‐cycle changes in household saving, this corresponds to a crowd‐out effect of about 50 percent of the total loss in pension wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SECURE Act 2.0 provides a spectrum of provisions that benefit many sectors of the U.S. population. This is a review of provisions for children, students with loans, part-time and active employees, preretirees, retirees, and employers. This article will note some of the salient provisions of the Act; however, it is not intended to be a comprehensive review. This article will highlight a few concepts that may support financial priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clients will need assistance in understanding various communications they receive from a retirement plan sponsor. These include enrollment packages that may include the summary plan description, beneficiary-designation forms, salary deferral election forms, and automatic enrollment literature. Employer communications also include ongoing notifications, such as individual benefit statements, lifetime income illustrations, summary annual reports, summaries of material modifications to the plan, and blackout notices. Finally, the client will need help in deciphering information given to them when they leave the plan, including notices about benefit claim forms, the eligibility for a rollover notice, tax forms, and more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in the hard-freezing of defined benefit pension plans. Although cost savings associated with a pension freeze are expected to lead to improved future performance, prior studies do not provide conclusive empirical evidence to support enhanced firm performances following pension freezes. In this study, we examine how firms' commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR), especially their commitment to employee relations, affects their decision to freeze pension plans, and how firms' CSR activities affect the association between the pension freeze and their post-freeze performance. First, we find no evidence that firms with a high overall CSR score are less likely to freeze their pension plans, but we find supporting evidence that firms with a high CSR score on the employee relation aspect are less likely to freeze their pension plans. In addition, we find that the pension freeze has a positive impact on the firm's future performance, as measured by the return on assets, for the firms with high CSR scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes the impact of defined benefit pensions, especially public pensions, on retirement income security and wealth distribution by race, gender, and educational attainment in the U.S. It serves as a companion report to Closing the Gap fact sheets, which are designed to inform the public about the social equity impact of pensions in each state and the District of Columbia.