Income & Wealth

Whether older Americans are able to afford a comfortable retirement depends partly on how much they earn and save during their working years and how they manage their assets during retirement. Our research examines whether most Americans are saving enough, the kinds of assets they hold, and how annuities affect retirement income security.

• Data at a Glance
• Research Topics
  • Retirement Income Adequacy
  • Asset Accumulation
  • Annuities
• Commentary and Testimony
• Events
• All Publications

Data at a Glance

• How Is the Financial Crisis Affecting Retirement Savings? (2009)
• How Is the Economic Turmoil Affecting Older Americans? (2008)
• Typical Wealth Held by Those at the Verge of Retirement (2008)
• Older Americans' Reliance on Assets (2008)

Retirement Income Adequacy

• How Will the Stock Market Collapse Affect Retirement Income? (2009)
  full report | related brief
• Rising Tides and Retirement: The Aggregate and Distributional Effects of Differential Wage Growth on Social Security (2009)
• It's Not Easy Being Gray: The New Rules of Retirement (2009)
• Federal Taxes and the Elderly (2009)
• The Disappearing Defined Benefit Pension and Its Potential Impact on the Retirement Incomes of Boomers (2009)
• Are Baby Boomers Saving Enough for Their Retirement? (2008)
• How Do Disabilities Affect Future Retirement Benefits? (2008)
• How Is the Economic Turmoil Affecting Older Americans? (2008)
• How Much Could Reverse Mortgages Contribute to Retirement Incomes? (2008)
• How the Income Tax Treatment of Saving and Social Security Benefits may Affect Boomers’ Retirement Incomes (2008)
• The Impact of Late-Career Health and Employment Shocks on Social Security and Other Wealth (2007)
• How Economic Security Changes During Retirement (2007)
• When the Nest Egg Cracks: Financial Consequences of Health Problems, Marital Status Changes, and Job Layoffs at Older Ages (2006)
  full report | related brief | two-page summary | commentary
• Understanding Expenditure Patterns in Retirement (2005)
• Changing Demographics of the Retired Population (2005)
• How Will Boomers Fare at Retirement? (2004) full report | related brief

Asset Accumulation

• Diversity in Retirement Wealth Accumulation (2008)
• How Is the Financial Crisis Affecting Retirement Savings? (2009)
• Older Americans' Reliance on Assets (2008)
• Do Assets Change the Racial Profile of Poverty among Older Adults? (2008)
• Typical Wealth Held by Those at the Verge of Retirement (2008)
• Strengthening Private Sources of Retirement Savings for Low-Income Families (2005)

Annuities

• The Disappearing Defined Benefit Pension and Its Potential Impact on the Retirement Incomes of Boomers (2009)
• Annuitized Wealth and Consumption at Older Ages (2007)
  full report | related brief
• Annuitized Wealth at Older Ages: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study (2004)

Commentary and Testimony

• Provide Protections from Retirement's Pitfalls (2006)

Events

• Frozen Pensions and Falling Stocks: What Will Happen to Retirees' Incomes? (2009)
• Rethinking Retirement: Opinions, Obstacles, Opportunities (2008)
• Special-Needs Housing for the Frail Elderly and Homeless (2008)

All Publications