Securing a Reliable Income in Retirement: An Examination of the Benefits and Challenges of Pooled Funding and Risk-Sharing in Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) Plans (Policy Report 21-03, April 2021)

Private sector workers in the United States continue to struggle to find a cost-effective way of securing a reliable income in retirement. The US is not alone in facing this challenge. In both the Netherlands, and most recently now in the United Kingdom (UK), collective defined contribution (CDC) plans are being used to provide lifetime income. Recent studies of CDC plan experience in Europe suggest that a CDC plan can be simple and low-cost in design and generate a retirement income at least 30% higher than a typical DC plan. This paper reviews the benefits, risks, and challenges in CDC plans based on experiences in the Netherlands and the UK, and concludes with some lessons for US.

Generating and Protecting Retirement Income in Defined Contribution Plans: An Analysis of How Different Solutions Address Participant Needs (Policy Report 19-02, June 2019)

This report analyzes how different lifetime income solutions can help retirees meet their lifetime income needs. It examines several options to determine how well they achieve different objectives for retirement income including stability, maximization, longevity protection, growth potential, asset preservation, cost and liquidity. It highlights the growing demand for lifetime income solutions and the need for policymakers and plan sponsors to begin to integrate these solutions into retirement plans as more plan participants come to expect their DC plans to help generate and protect income for retirement.

2018 Policy Innovation Forum Report: Driving Change to Improve Retirement Outcomes (CRI Policy Forum Report)

On June 19, 2018, the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives (CRI) convened an invitation-only one-day policy forum with approximately 100 senior industry leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders to examine some of the key challenges designing a retirement savings system focused on improving long-term outcomes to strengthen retirement security for millions of Americans. This report provides a comprehensive overview of the discussion held during this event, covering innovative ideas and proposals for addressing some of the challenges faced in closing the access gap, improving the design and performance of investments in retirement savings plans, and identifying ways to build and deliver more-effective and attractive lifetime income options.

MarketWatch

• Opinion: Queen Elizabeth and the future of U.S. Retirement Reform: Is it time to consider Collective Defined Contribution Plans? (May 25, 2021)
• When it comes to financial angst, boomers and millennials have more in common than they think (MarketWatch, December 26, 2019)
• The Retirement Plan of the Future: Turning that Pot of Money into Monthly Income (MarketWatch, June 28, 2019)
• How Financially Secure Is Your Retirement? Your Account Balance Won’t Tell You (MarketWatch, April 6, 2018)

Forbes

• What Will It Take For Employers To Adopt Retirement Lifetime Income Solutions? (Forbes, December 3, 2019)
• 5 Expenses that Could Derail Your Retirement Plans – and How to Keep on Track (Forbes, September 26, 2019)
• 6 Ways to Generate Lifetime Income in Retirement (Forbes, August 20, 2019)
• Emergency Savings Accounts Have the Power to Avoid Life-Changing Financial Disruption (Forbes, May 2, 2019)

CRI Policy Blog

• The DOL’s New Lifetime Income Disclosure Rules Are (Mostly) Reasonable, But Will Plan Participants Notice? David E. Morse (December 2020)
• Generating and Protecting Lifetime Income: The Role of Deferred Income Annuities in Defined Contribution Plans  Tamiko Toland (September 2020)
• The Case for Tontine Pensions as a Lifetime Income Solution for State-Sponsored Retirement Savings Programs Richard Fullmer and Jonathan Forman (August 2020)
• Retirement Savings in the Time of COVID-19: International Best Practices to Address Challenges Pablo Antolin (July 2020)
• How to Evolve Default Options for Retirees in DC Plans Jason Shapiro (December 2019)
• The Reality Behind the Idea of Working Longer Angela M. Antonelli and Laura Kim (September 2019)
• No, Really — This Time is Different in Retirement Income Josh Cohen (August 2019)
• How Much Is Enough? The Challenge of Helping Workers Determine Their Retirement Income Needs Ivy Deng, Laura Kim, and Angela M. Antonelli (April 2019)
• From Savings to Security: The Future of Innovation in DC Plan Design Angela Antonelli (March 2019)
• The Next Generation of NEST Program Reforms in the UK: Anticipating Some Challenges Will Strengthen the Foundation for Continued Success Will Sandbrook (November 2018)
• A Key to Strengthening Retirement Security: Return to Designing Retirement Plans Focused on Lifetime Income Strategies by Martin Noven and Angela M. Antonelli (November 2017)

Podcasts

• Episode 23: What are the Benefits and Challenges of Pooled Funding and Risk-Sharing in Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) Plans?
• Episode 17: What Are Some Innovative Approaches to Addressing the Financial Well-Being and Lifetime Income Needs of Retirement Plan Sponsors and Participants? INDUSTRY INSIGHTS EDITION
• Episode 15: How Might the COVID Economy and Upcoming Elections Reshape the Future of Retirement? (July 14, 2020)
• Episode 11: How Could the SECURE Act Reshape the Retirement Savings Landscape in 2020 and Beyond? (February 10, 2020)
• Episode 07: How Do We Build a Retirement Income System for the 21st Century? (August 7, 2019)

Webinars

• Securing a Reliable Income in Retirement: An Examination of the Benefits and Challenges of Pooled Funding and Risk-Sharing in Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) Plans (May 13, 2021)
• Generating and Protecting Retirement Income in Defined Contribution Plans (September 2019)
• Trends in the Design and Use of Target Date Funds (TDFs):  What Could Improve Retirement Income Outcomes? (November 2018)

• Updating TDFs to Provide Better Retirement Income (Plansponsor, November 27, 2019)
• Companies Have Done Well Getting Workers Into 401(k)s. Now They’re Trying to Help People Spend Them (Barron’s, November 15, 2019)
• Making a DC plan’s nest egg last a lifetime (InvestmentNews, September 16, 2019)
• Lack of 401(k) Annuitization Portability Is Mean: Pension Policy Specialists (ThinkAdvisor, July 10, 2019)
• How to Get Lifetime Income Solutions in 401k Plans (401(k) Specialist, June 19, 2019)
• NEVER DONE: A generation with unfinished business (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, October 14, 2018)
• Improved TDFs could lower risk, increase retirement income BenefitsPro, (June 21, 2018)
• Alternatives in target-date funds can increase retirement income, lower risk: report (InvestmentNews, June 20, 2018)
• Alternatives in target-date funds can increase retirement income, lower risk – report (Pensions & Investments, June 19, 2018)

Infographics

• How Can Lifetime Income Options Address Participant Needs? 

Other

• Reducing regulatory obstacles to annuities in 401(k) plans (The Brookings Institution, July 24, 2019)
• From saving to spending: A proposal to convert retirement account balances into automatic and flexible income (The Brookings Institution, July 31, 2019)
• Automatic enrollment in 401(k) annuities: Boosting retiree lifetime income (The Brookings Institution, June 25, 2019)
• Using behavioral insights to increase annuitization rates: The role of framing and anchoring (The Brookings Institution, June 25, 2019)
• Can annuities become a bigger contributor to retirement security? (The Brookings Institution, June 25, 2019)
• DCIIA: Design Matters: Plan Distribution Options: Taking Money Out for Retirement (The Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association, May 2018)
• Retirement Adequacy in the United States: Should We Be Concerned? (Society of Actuaries, March 2018)
• Retirement Income Options in Employer-Sponsored Defined Contribution Plans (American Academy of Actuaries, October 2017)
• Measuring the Adequacy of Retirement Income: A Primer,” Congressional Budget Office, October 2017)
• 2017 Hot Topics in Retirement and Financial Wellbeing (Aon Hewitt)
• We’ll Live to 100 – How Can We Afford It? (World Economic Forum, May 2017)
• Paycheck or Pot of Gold Study (MetLife, April 2017)
• Closing the guarantee gap: How policymakers can restore the role of lifetime income in workplace retirement plans (TIAA, 2017)
• 401(K) Plans: DOL Could Take Steps to Improve Retirement Income Options for Plan Participants (U.S. Government Accountability Office, August 2016)
• Retirement Security: Better Information on Income Replacement Rates Needed to Help Workers Plan for Retirement (U.S. Government Accountability Office, March 2016)