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The Evolution of Retirement Wealth

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Is the current mix of tax preferences for employer-sponsored pensions and individual retirement saving in the U.S. delivering the best possible retirement-preparedness across and within generations? Using data from the triennial Survey of Consumer Finances for 1989 through 2013, cohort-based analysis of life-cycle trajectories shows that (1) overall retirement plan participation was relatively stable or even rising through 2007, though participation fell noticeably in the wake of the Great Recession and has remained lower, (2) participation is strongly correlated with income, and the shift in the type of pension coverage occurred within--not just across--income groups, (3) relative to previous cohorts and a counterfactual lifecycle benchmark, the recent decline in retirement plan participation and defined contribution (DC) retirement account balance-to-income ratios is concentrated among younger families and lower-income families.

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  • Sebastian Devlin-Foltz & Alice Henriques Volz & John Edward Sabelhaus, 2015. "The Evolution of Retirement Wealth," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015-9, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2015-09
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2015.009
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Lifecycle; pension; retirement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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