401 k Plans: A Failed Experiment

Teresa Ghilarducci, Siavash Radpour, Bridget Fisher and Anthony Webb ()

No 2016-02, SCEPA policy note series. from Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), The New School

Abstract: The first birth cohort exposed to the 401(k) system for most of their working lives is now approaching retirement. 401(k) participants in this cohort have accumulated only about a third of the savings they need to maintain their standard of living in retirement. The 401(k) system fails even those who use it as instructed. High earners are as ill-prepared for retirement as low-and moderate earners. Inadequate wealth accumulations reflect well-known design flaws in the 401(k) system – patchy coverage, high fees, opportunities to take pre-retirement withdrawals, and the lack of a default pathway for converting accumulated wealth into retirement income.

Keywords: Retirement; 401(k); GRA; Social Security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 E21 H55 J26 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 6 pages
Date: 2016-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age and nep-mac
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epa:cepapn:2016-02

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