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

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Private sector workers in the United States continue to struggle to find a cost-effective way of securing a reliable income in retirement. As defined benefit (DB) plans have become less common, many workers now face a costly and complex set of decisions about how to turn the savings in their defined contribution (DC), 401(k) plans into lifetime income.

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.

How is this possible? What has been the experience, good and bad, in the Netherlands and the UK? What lessons do a CDC plan design hold for the US?

Please join the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives (CRI) for a one-hour webinar with a panel of global experts, practitioners, and labor representatives to discuss the potential of CDC plan design and the CRI’s related policy report, 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.”

Introduction:

  • Angela Antonelli, Research Professor and Executive Director, Center for Retirement Initiatives, Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy

Moderator:

  • Charles E.F. Millard, former Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and Senior Advisor, Amundi Asset Management

Panelists:

  • Bradford Campbell, Partner, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, and former Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor
  • Alwin Oerlemans, Head of Product Management, APG Asset Management, the Netherlands
  • David Pitt-Watson, Visiting Fellow, Cambridge University’s Judge Business School, United Kingdom
  • Terry Pullinger, Deputy Secretary General (Postal), Communication Workers Union, United Kingdom