Download or read book Implications of Optimal Investment Policies for Hybrid Pension Plans written by Raimond Maurer and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes pension plan costs and investment strategies in the context of alternative hybrid pension plans which are optimal either from the perspective of the plan sponsor or the beneficiaries.The focus is in particular on how the introduction of minimum and maximum limits for pension benefits as well as minimum guarantees and caps on the return of the members' individual investment accounts affect investment decisions and plan costs. Within a comparative static analysis framework, it is shown that for low- to medium-risk portfolios, minimum benefit guarantees tend to be more expensive than minimum return guarantees while for the latter costs increase exponentially with investment risk. The study also finds that the portfolio choice of the sponsor and the beneficiaries shows substantial differences depending on the exact plan design and the beneficiaries' risk aversion. Combining minimum return guarantees and caps on investment returns emerged as a possible means to reduce such differences, to share investment risks and returns more equally between sponsor and beneficiaries, and to keep pension plan costs under control.

Download or read book Optimal Investment Policies for Hybrid Pension Plans written by Peter Albrecht and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Private Pensions and Public Policies written by William G. Gale and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2004-04-21 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The private pension system, together with Social Security, has provided millions of Americans with income security in retirement. But over the past thirty years, pension coverage has stagnated, leaving behind some vulnerable groups. Defined contribution plans have exposed workers to greater investment risk, while cash balance and other hybrid plans may have adverse effects on older workers caught in the transition. Pension regulations, infamous for their complexity, can be bewildering to policy analysts and policymakers. Private Pensions and Public Policies sheds timely and much-needed light on specific issues within the broader context and framework of pension reform. Contributors focus on topics that must be addressed in any reform effort, including the effects of the shift in emphasis toward defined contribution plans (after the 1974 Employee Retirement Income and Security Act) and hybrid plans (from the 1990s); regulatory issues such as nondiscrimination rules and contribution limits; how to increase the information available to participants and improve financial education; how participants in defined contribution plans make choices on questions such as asset allocation, back-loaded versus front-loaded saving, and annuities versus lump sum distributions; and the interaction of the private pension system with Social Security. Contributors include Robert L. Clark (North Carolina State University), Sylvester J. Schieber (Watson Wyatt Worldwide), Richard A. Ippolito (George Mason University School of Law), Alan L. Gustman (Dartmouth College), Thomas L. Steinmeier (Texas Tech University), John Karl Scholz (University of Wisconsin), Dean M. Maki, (JPMorgan Chase), William Even (Miami University of Ohio), Jagadeesh Gokhale (American Enterprise Institute), Laurence J. Kotlikoff (Boston University), Mark J. Warshawsky (TIAA-CREF Institute), Annika Sunden (Boston College), Andrew A. Samwick (Dartmouth College), David A. Wise (Harvard University), Joel Dickson (T

Download or read book Optimal Investment Policies for Defined Benefit Pension Funds written by Arjen Siegmann and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Optimal Funding and Asset Allocation Rules for Defined benefit Pension Plans written by J. Michael Harrison and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper considers a world in which pension funds may default, the cost of the associated risk of default is not borne fully by the sponsoring corporation, and there are differential tax effects. The focus is on ways in which the wealth of the shareholders of a corporation sponsoring a pension plan might be increased if the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) follow simple and naive policies. Under the conditions examined, the optimal policy for pension plan funding and asset allocation is shown to be extremal in a certain sense. This suggests that the IRS and the PBGC may wish to use more complex regulatory procedures than those considered in the paper.

Download or read book Risk Sharing and Hybrid Pension Plans written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Optimal Investment Strategies for Defined Contribution Pension Plans with Intergenerational Risk Transfer written by Fabio Resegatti and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A simulation approach is used to analyse optimal portfolio strategies for defined-contribution pension plans under a stochastic overlapping generation model. Under individual pension saving, where the financial risk is fully born by the employees, the Merton solution applies. Introducing intergenerational risk transfer between employees may be suitable to increase the ex ante expected utility of the pension savers. However, the results depend on which phases of the pension plan are considered. To provide a pareto improvement including the employees of all phases of the pension plan's life cycle, further mechansims of solidarity are needed. Finally, two types of dynamic strategies have been examined: for funding ratio dependent and net contribution dependent investment policies, solutions that outperform the static weight strategy were found only when confine the analysis to the accumulation and perennial phase.

Download or read book Investment Risks and Returns of Hybrid Pension Plans written by Peter Albrecht and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper analyzes pension plan costs and investment strategies in the context of alternative hybrid pension plans which are optimal either from the perspective of the plan sponsor or the beneficiaries. The focus is in particular on how the introduction of minimum and maximum limits for pension benefits as well as minimum guarantees and caps on the return of the members' individual investment accounts affect investment decisions and plan costs. Within a comparative static analysis framework, it is shown that for low to medium risk portfolios, minimum benefit guarantees tend to be more expensive than minimum return guarantees while for the latter costs increase exponentially with investment risk. The study also finds that the portfolio choice of the sponsor and the beneficiaries shows substantial differences depending on the exact plan design and the beneficiaries' risk aversion. Combining minimum return guarantees and caps on investment returns emerged as a possible means to reduce such differences, to share investment risks and returns more equally between sponsor and beneficiaries, and to keep pension plan costs under control.

Download or read book Age Dependent Investing written by David P. Blake and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 46 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A defined contribution pension plan allows consumption to be redistributed from the plan member's working life to retirement in a manner that is consistent with the member's personal preferences. The plan's optimal funding and investment strategies therefore depend on the desired profile of consumption over the lifetime of the member. We investigate these strategies under the assumption that the member is a rational life cycle financial planner and has an Epstein-Zin utility function, which allows a separation between risk aversion and the elasticity of intertemporal substitution. We also take into account the member's human capital during the accumulation phase of the plan and we allow the annuitisation decision to be endogenously determined during the decumulation phase.We show that the optimal funding strategy involves a contribution rate that is not constant over the life of the plan but is age-dependent and reflects the trade-off between the desire for current versus future consumption, the desire for stable consumption over time, the member's attitude to risk, and changes in the level of human capital over the life cycle. We also show that the optimal investment strategy during the accumulation phase of the plan is 'stochastic lifestyling', with an initial high weight in equity-type investments and a gradual switch into bond-type investments as the retirement date approaches in a way that depends on the realised outcomes for the stochastic processes driving the state variables. The optimal investment strategy during the decumulation phase of the plan is to exchange the bonds held at retirement for life annuities and then to gradually sell the remaining equities and buy more annuities, i.e., a strategy known as 'phased annuitisation'

Download or read book Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment written by Jeffrey R. Brown and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-12-15 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Security Policy in a Changing Environment analyzes the changing economic and demographic environment in which social insurance programs that benefit elderly households will operate. It also explores how these ongoing trends will affect future beneficiaries, under both the current social security program and potential reform options. In this volume, an esteemed group of economists probes the challenge posed to Social Security by an aging population. The researchers examine trends in private sector retirement saving and health care costs, as well as the uncertain nature of future demographic, economic, and social trends—including marriage and divorce rates and female participation in the labor force. Recognizing the ambiguity of the environment in which the Social Security system must operate and evolve, this landmark book explores factors that policymakers must consider in designing policies that are resilient enough to survive in an economically and demographically uncertain society.

Download or read book Governance and Investment of Public Pension Assets written by Sudhir Rajkumar and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: And key messages -- Key principles of governance and investment management -- Governance of public pension assets -- Governance structures and accountabilities -- Qualification, selection, and operation of governing bodies -- Operational policies and procedures -- Managing fiscal pressures in defined-benefit schemes -- Policy responses to turbulent financial markets -- Investment of public pension assets -- Defining the investment policy framework for public pension funds -- Managing risk for different cohorts in defined-contribution schemes -- An asset-liability approach to strategic asset allocation for pension funds -- In-house investment versus outsourcing to external investment managers -- International investments and managing the resulting currency risk -- Alternative asset classes and new investment themes.

Download or read book Restructuring Retirement Risks written by David Blitzstein and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2006-08-03 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book posits that retirement security is the central policy concern of our time. A generation of 'Baby Boomers' is on the verge of retirement, yet pension systems confront crushing challenges, and governments often appear confused about which direction they should move in. Contributors to this volume clarify the discussion by addressing the question: 'What are the new risks and rewards in pensions, and what paths can stakeholders chose to solve these problems?'. The chapters set their sights on employees' needs and expectations, employers' intentions and realizations, and policymakers' efforts to resolve the many challenges. Despite the fact that retirement systems face deep stresses exacerbated by volatile capital markets, poor corporate earning streams, weak macroeconomic performance, and international turmoil, nevertheless, contributors in this volume show courage and creativity in plotting the course over uneven terrain. In the book, three aspects of the evolution of risk and reward-sharing in retirement are evaluated, to offer guidance to pension fiduciaries, plan participants, and policymakers. First, it formulates new perspectives for assessing retirement risks and rewards. Second, it evaluates efforts to insure retirement plans. Third, it proposes several new strategies for managing retirement system risk. The volume represents an invaluable addition to the Pension Research Council/Oxford University Press series. It will be especially useful for managers working toward more efficient pension plans; to scholars and policymakers seeking to maximize pension design effectiveness; and to actuaries and tax specialists concerned with pension regulation. The Pension Research Council at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania was founded 50 years ago to encourage research and teaching on pensions and retirement security. Council projects address the long-term issues that underlie contemporary concerns and seek to broaden public understanding of these complex arrangements through research into their social, economic, legal, actuarial, and financial foundations of privately and publicly-provided benefits.

Download or read book Favorable Determination Letter written by United States. Internal Revenue Service and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 8 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Evaluating the Financial Performance of Pension Funds written by Richard Hinz and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2010-01-14 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Countries around the world are increasingly relying on individual pension savings accounts to provide income in old age for their citizens. Although these funds have now been in place for several decades, their performance is usually measured using methods that are not meaningful in relation to this long-term objective. The recent global financial crisis has highlighted the need to develop better performance evaluation methods that are consistent with the retirement income objective of pension funds. Compiling research derived from a partnership among the World Bank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and three private partners, 'Evaluating the Financial Performance of Pension Funds' discusses the theoretical basis and key implementation issues related to the design of performance benchmarks based on life-cycle savings and investment principles. The book begins with an evaluation of the financial performance of funded pension systems using the standard mean variance framework. It then provides a discussion of the limitations inherent to applying these methods to pension funds and outlines the many other issues that should be addressed in developing more useful and meaningful performance measures through the formulation of pension-specific benchmark portfolios. Practical implementation issues are addressed through empirical examples of how such benchmarks could be developed. The book concludes with commentary and observations from several noted pension experts about the need for a new approach to performance measurement and the impact of the recent global financial crisis on pension funds.

Download or read book Strategic Asset Allocation written by John Y. Campbell and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2002-01-03 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academic finance has had a remarkable impact on many financial services. Yet long-term investors have received curiously little guidance from academic financial economists. Mean-variance analysis, developed almost fifty years ago, has provided a basic paradigm for portfolio choice. This approach usefully emphasizes the ability of diversification to reduce risk, but it ignores several critically important factors. Most notably, the analysis is static; it assumes that investors care only about risks to wealth one period ahead. However, many investors—-both individuals and institutions such as charitable foundations or universities—-seek to finance a stream of consumption over a long lifetime. In addition, mean-variance analysis treats financial wealth in isolation from income. Long-term investors typically receive a stream of income and use it, along with financial wealth, to support their consumption. At the theoretical level, it is well understood that the solution to a long-term portfolio choice problem can be very different from the solution to a short-term problem. Long-term investors care about intertemporal shocks to investment opportunities and labor income as well as shocks to wealth itself, and they may use financial assets to hedge their intertemporal risks. This should be important in practice because there is a great deal of empirical evidence that investment opportunities—-both interest rates and risk premia on bonds and stocks—-vary through time. Yet this insight has had little influence on investment practice because it is hard to solve for optimal portfolios in intertemporal models. This book seeks to develop the intertemporal approach into an empirical paradigm that can compete with the standard mean-variance analysis. The book shows that long-term inflation-indexed bonds are the riskless asset for long-term investors, it explains the conditions under which stocks are safer assets for long-term than for short-term investors, and it shows how labor income influences portfolio choice. These results shed new light on the rules of thumb used by financial planners. The book explains recent advances in both analytical and numerical methods, and shows how they can be used to understand the portfolio choice problems of long-term investors.

Download or read book Pension Fund Risk Management written by Marco Micocci and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2010-01-25 with total page 766 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As pension fund systems decrease and dependency ratios increase, risk management is becoming more complex in public and private pension plans. Pension Fund Risk Management: Financial and Actuarial Modeling sheds new light on the current state of pension fund risk management and provides new technical tools for addressing pension risk from an integr

Download or read book The Disruptive Impact of FinTech on Retirement Systems written by Julie Agnew and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-06 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people need help planning for retirement, saving, investing, and decumulating their assets, yet financial advice is often complex, potentially conflicted, and expensive. The advent of computerized financial advice offers huge promise to make accessible a more coherent approach to financial management, one that takes into account not only clients' financial assets but also human capital, home values, and retirement pensions. Robo-advisors, or automated on-line services that use computer algorithms to provide financial advice and manage customers' investment portfolios, have the potential to transform retirement systems and peoples' approach to retirement planning. This volume offers cutting-edge research and recommendations regarding the impact of financial technology, or FinTech, to disrupt retirement planning and retirement system design.