Retirement

The Economist reports on a new method for retirement income developed by Prof. Robert Merton and his colleague at France’s EDHEC Business School.

Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, writes for Forbes that lifelong education is a key component to job security and retirement planning, highlighting MIT’s online education offerings and MicroMasters programs. “People with the willingness and agility to learn new skills…are the most resilient players in an economy defined by sudden technological shifts and the rapid accumulation of new knowledge.”

In an effort to make it easier for Americans, in particular Latinos, to save for retirement, MIT alumnus Carlos García launched Finhabits, a “bilingual digital platform that gives investment advice and teaches and encourages individuals how to invest and save for retirement,” writes Kristina Puga for CNBC. 

Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab director, writes for Forbes about how many people are fearful of a “retirement future in which they are no longer meaningfully involved in the world.” Coughlin and his colleagues found that retirement FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), “may be leading many to delay retirement or, in some cases, to avoid the subject altogether.”

John Wasik of Forbes explains Prof. Robert Merton’s funded retirement ratio, which determines whether an investor will have enough retirement funds based on money saved, rate of return, and planned retirement. Checking this number allows time to improve it by “saving more, working later and adding more stocks to your portfolio,” explains Wasik. 

In this MarketWatch video, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, explains how investors can ensure they save enough for retirement. In addition to regularly putting aside money, Coughlin advises that millennials should also invest in core skills and professional development “so that they are able to stay in the workforce for as long as possible.” 

Money reporter Penelope Wang writes about a new study by Prof. James Poterba that examined why Americans often did not have enough money saved for retirement. The researchers found that, “how much subjects had the first year their assets were measured showed the strongest determinant of the amount of the wealth they had at the end of life.”

In a New York Times op-ed, MIT lecturer Robert Pozen argues for allowing baby boomers to remain in the work force for longer periods of time. Pozen writes that keeping older Americans on the job “is crucial to maintaining economic growth, and it will help the boomers to preserve and increase their savings if longevity continues to rise.”