How Will Sweden's New Pension System Work?

In 1998, the Swedish Parliament passed pension legislation that transformed Sweden's Social Security system to a Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) plan 3/4 that is, a defined contribution plan financed on a pay-as-you-go basis. In addition, the legislature established a second tier of funded benefits. This issue in brief describes the evolution of the new Swedish pension system and discusses its implications for other countries considering pension reform.

The Future of Retirement in Sweden

In 1998, Sweden transformed its Social Security system into a Notional Defined Contribution (NDC) plan financed on a pay-as-you-go basis paired with a second tier of funded individual accounts. The goal was to move toward a fiscally sustainable system tied to economic growth, with a clear link between contributions and benefits. This chapter discusses the evolution of the Swedish retirement system and the challenges confronted during the implementation of the reform. The analysis also offers an outlook for the future and discusses lessons for the US retirement system

Family finances in the U.S.: recent evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances

Using data that have just become available from the 1995 Survey of Consumer Finances along with data from the 1989 and 1992 versions of the survey, this article provides a detailed picture of recent changes in the income, net worth, assets, and liabilities of U.S. families. It also presents information on families' saving, unrealized capital gains, debt payments, and institutional providers of credit. Of the developments the article reports, a few are particularly noteworthy. First, between the 1992 and 1995 surveys, both median family income and median family net worth rose in constant dollars. The former, however, remained below the level measured in 1989, whereas the latter returned to the 1989 level. Second, the percentage of families who owned publicly traded stock and the amount of their holdings expanded greatly over the six-year period. Finally, there was little evidence of a serious rise in debt payment problems between 1992 and 1995, even though both the share of families with debt and the median amount of their debt rose.Consumer behavior ; Saving and investment

401(k)s And Company Stock: How Can We Encourage Diversification?

Over the past two decades, the private pension system in the United States has shifted from defined benefit to defined contribution plans, and the fastest growing defined contribution plans are 401(k)s. The defining characteristic of 401(k) plans is that employees, rather than employers, bear the investment risk. Currently, many employees hold a significant portion of their 401(k) funds in their companies' stock, which increases the risk of their plans. This investment behavior contradicts standard asset allocation theory. Investing in one stock rather than a diversified portfolio creates more risk without providing any increase in expected returns. In addition, plan participants hold an asset whose value is closely correlated with their own earnings. Due to these two factors, financial experts generally advise against holding large shares of company stock in retirement accounts such as 401(k)s.

Household Borrowing From 401(k) Plans

In order to encourage participation, 401(k) plans increasingly offer loans and withdrawals. This means that more and more families have access to pension funds prior to retirement. The newly released 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances shows that borrowing from pension plans has more than doubled between 1992 and 1998. The problem with using pension funds prior to retirement is the risk that retirement income will be inadequate. The questions are "Why do people borrow" and "What do they do with the money?"

Workers' knowledge of their pension coverage: a reevaluation

Because employer-provided pensions represent an important source of income during retirement, accurate information on pension coverage would seem to be crucial for making sound decisions on retirement timing, saving, and portfolio allocation. However, previous research suggests that workers' knowledge of their pension provisions is often incomplete or incorrect. This paper reexamines workers' knowledge of their pension coverage, using matched employer-employee data from the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances. We find that, while most workers in our sample accurately reported the general features of their pension coverage, their knowledge of the detailed features was often fairly limited.Pensions ; Saving and investment ; Consumer behavior