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- 30 Jun 2008
- Research & Ideas
Rethinking Retirement Planning
Many of us are sailing toward retirement with the hope that Social Security, personal savings, and money saved in an employer's 401(k) or 403(b) plan will add up to the magic sum required to enjoy our... View Details
- July–August 2014
- Article
The Crisis in Retirement Planning
By: Robert C. Merton
Corporate America began to really take notice of the looming retirement crisis in the wake of the dot-com crash, when companies in major industries went bankrupt in large part because of their inability to meet their pension obligations. The result was an acceleration... View Details
Merton, Robert C. "The Crisis in Retirement Planning." Harvard Business Review 92, nos. 7/8 (July–August 2014): 43–50.
- Research Summary
The Transition to Retirement
My current major research program is the Retirement Transitions Study: a broad study of retiring professionals' everyday experiences, including identification with work; identity stability, change, and development; meaningfulness of work; changes in life structure,... View Details
- July 2013
- Teaching Note
Searching for a Retirement Plan
By: Robert C. Pozen and Lucas Goodman
Keywords: Retirement
- July 2013
- Case
Searching for a Retirement Plan
By: Robert C. Pozen and Lucas Goodman
Pozen, Robert C., and Lucas Goodman. "Searching for a Retirement Plan." Harvard Business School Case 314-022, July 2013.
- October 14, 2019
- Article
The CEO's Guide to Retirement
By: Bill George
Some CEOs remain in the role too long, hurting investors, employees, and their own legacy. The author sees a frequent reason for that: CEOs don’t know how to identify the optimal time to retire, and they procrastinate because they can’t imagine what they will do after... View Details
George, Bill. "The CEO's Guide to Retirement." Harvard Business Review 97, no. 6 (November–December 2019): 64–68.
- 2007
- Chapter
The Future of Retirement and Planning
By: Robert C. Merton
Merton, Robert C. "The Future of Retirement and Planning." In The Future of Life-Cycle Saving and Investing, edited by Zvi Bodie, Dennis McLeavey, and Laurence B. Siegel. CFA Institute, Research Foundation, 2007.
- July 2010
- Case
Fidelity Retires in Canada
By: Robert C. Pozen and Edward Warren Scott
The head of Fidelity Canada was faced with a decision about what to do with its retirement business there. Although Fidelity as a fund manager has made some headway in Canada, the competition has been very tough for the administration of retirement plans—a separate... View Details
Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Investment Funds; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Retirement; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Canada; United States
Pozen, Robert C., and Edward Warren Scott. "Fidelity Retires in Canada." Harvard Business School Case 311-023, July 2010.
- January 2025
- Article
Automatic Enrollment with a 12% Default Contribution Rate
By: John Beshears, Ruofei Guo, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and James J. Choi
We study a retirement savings plan with a default contribution rate of 12% of income, which is much higher than previously studied defaults. Twenty-five percent of employees had not opted out of this default 12 months after hire; a literature review finds that the... View Details
Keywords: Retirement Savings; Defined Contribution Retirement Plan; Automatic Enrollment; Retirement; Saving; Income; Decision Choices and Conditions
Beshears, John, Ruofei Guo, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and James J. Choi. "Automatic Enrollment with a 12% Default Contribution Rate." Journal of Pension Economics & Finance 24, no. 1 (January 2025): 152–182. (20th Anniversary Special Issue.)
- January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
- Case
Advising Families on Estate Planning
By: Robert C. Pozen and Lucas W. Goodman
Sean Warrick is an estate planning adviser at Hellwig & Macon. He is preparing for meetings with two clients. His first clients are Peggy and David Bartley, a professional married couple of moderate wealth. His second clients are Ray and Michelle Polanski, a couple... View Details
Keywords: Estate Planning; Estate Tax; Gift Tax; Generation Skipping Tax; Tax Accounting; Tax Strategy; Taxes; Taxation; Retirement; United States
Pozen, Robert C., and Lucas W. Goodman. "Advising Families on Estate Planning." Harvard Business School Case 314-088, January 2014. (Revised June 2014.)
- February 2014
- Teaching Note
Advising Families on Estate Planning
By: Robert C. Pozen
Sean Warrick is an estate planning adviser at Hellwig & Macon. He is preparing for meetings with two clients. His first clients are Peggy and David Bartley, a professional married couple of moderate wealth. His second clients are Ray and Michelle Polanski, a couple... View Details
- Article
Using Fresh Starts to Nudge Increased Retirement Savings
By: John Beshears, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman and Shlomo Benartzi
We conducted a field experiment to study the effect of framing future moments in time as new beginnings (or “fresh starts”). University employees (N=6,082) received mailings with an opportunity to choose between increasing their contributions to a savings plan... View Details
Keywords: Choice Architecture; Randomized Field Experiment; Savings; New Beginning; Fresh Start; Saving; Retirement; Behavior
Beshears, John, Hengchen Dai, Katherine L. Milkman, and Shlomo Benartzi. "Using Fresh Starts to Nudge Increased Retirement Savings." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 167 (November 2021): 72–87.
- 2024
- Working Paper
What Drives Variation in Investor Portfolios? Estimating the Roles of Beliefs and Risk Preferences
By: Mark Egan, Alexander MacKay and Hanbin Yang
We present an empirical model of portfolio choice that allows for the nonparametric estimation of investors' (subjective) expectations and risk preferences. Utilizing a comprehensive dataset of 401(k) plans from 2009 through 2019, we explore heterogeneity in asset... View Details
Keywords: Stock Market Expectations; Demand Estimation; Retirement Planning; Defined Contribution Retirement Plan; 401 (K); Finance; Investment Portfolio; Investment; Retirement; Behavioral Finance; Financial Services Industry; United States
Egan, Mark, Alexander MacKay, and Hanbin Yang. "What Drives Variation in Investor Portfolios? Estimating the Roles of Beliefs and Risk Preferences." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 22-044, December 2021. (Revisions Requested at the Review of Financial Studies. Revised April 2024. Direct download. NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29604, December 2021)
- June 2007 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
The Vanguard Group, Inc. in 2006 and Target Retirement Funds
By: Luis M. Viceira
The Vanguard Group is one of the largest asset managers in the U.S., with over $1 trillion in assets, ninety percent of which are mutual fund assets, and more than 12,000 employees at year-end 2006. Vanguard has built a strong reputation as the manager of reference for... View Details
Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Personal Finance; Brands and Branding; Retirement; Trust; Financial Services Industry; United States
Viceira, Luis M. "The Vanguard Group, Inc. in 2006 and Target Retirement Funds." Harvard Business School Case 207-129, June 2007. (Revised January 2008.)
- 06 Sep 2005
- Research & Ideas
The Best Place for Retirement Funds
choice of non-pension assets or capital structure. In the late 1990s, as the focus of tax-deferred investing drifted away from defined benefit plans and toward individually managed retirement accounts, a... View Details
Keywords: by Ann Cullen
- 2008
- Chapter
The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
This paper summarizes the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement savings outcomes. After outlining the salient features of the various sources of retirement income in the U.S., the paper presents the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement... View Details
Keywords: Saving; Financial Condition; Retirement; Investment Funds; Microeconomics; Outcome or Result; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; Macroeconomics; United States
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States." In Lessons from Pension Reform in the Americas, edited by Stephen J. Kay and Tapen Sinha, 59–87. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
- 17 Oct 2014
- Research & Ideas
New Treasury Rules Help Long-Retirement Planning
The United States Treasury recently amended its rules to encourage workers with retirement plans to purchase life annuities within these plans. Life annuities generally make fixed monthly payments from the... View Details
- April 2011
- Article
Behavioral Economics Perspectives on Public Sector Pension Plans
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We describe the pension plan features of the states and the largest cities and counties in the U.S. Unlike in the private sector, defined benefit (DB) pensions are still the norm in the public sector. However, a few jurisdictions have shifted towards defined... View Details
Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Public Sector; Retirement; Private Sector; Compensation and Benefits; United States
Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian. "Behavioral Economics Perspectives on Public Sector Pension Plans." Journal of Pension Economics & Finance 10, no. 2 (April 2011): 315–336.
- 15 Feb 2016
- Research & Ideas
Want Your Employees to Plan Better for Retirement? Don't Do This
“Defined benefit (DB) plans have largely gone the way of the dodo,” Beshears said in a recent interview. “They’ve been replaced with defined contribution (DC) plans. In those situations, it’s incumbent upon the individual to be saving... View Details