Restructuring the Defined Benefit Pension

Under the traditional approach to defined benefit plans, well-intended disciplinary and regulatory regimes have sought to restrict discretion, reduce uncertainty and risk, and protect workers and employers. Nevertheless the discouraging state of US defined benefit plans indicates that past efforts have gone awry. This chapter suggests that a new approach to defined benefit plans could resurrect the key elements required for retirement income security, rather than pursuing piecemeal reform

Retirement Saving Adequacy and Individual Investment Risk Management Using the Asset/Salary Ratio

This chapter uses the Asset-Salary Ratio (ASR) to examine the factors that increase the likelihood that defined contribution plan participants will have sufficient assets to generate adequate retirement income, similar to the defined benefit plan full-funding ratio. We apply this measure to a sample of TIAA-CREF participants, and we show that participant assets are on average consistent with at least a 70 percent income replacement ratio. Key factors explaining success are an adequate contribution rate and long tenure in the system; having a portfolio weighted to equities is beneficial but to a lesser extent. Thus good funding and early participation is more important than ‘chasing returns.’ Measures such as the ASR can help participants make more informed choices

Matching FinTech Advice to Participant Needs: Lessons and Challenges

The financial services industry is changing rapidly with the arrival of new economies of scale and networking effects attributable to FinTech, particularly via online or ‘robo’ advice. This chapter reviews the ‘robo-experience:’ how does it differ, if at all, from more traditional advice, and what is likely to happen next? After reviewing the goals and objectives of robo-advice, evolving advice models, who uses robo-advice, and investor behavior, we conclude that first adopters tend to be more affluent Millennial investors, as well as others seeking fast, mobile, and easy access to their finances. Nevertheless, though robo-advice has promised much, evidence is thin on the actual effects of using advice, such as changes in asset allocation and long-term effects on financial security

Swim-Training Changes the Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Skeletogenesis in Zebrafish Larvae (Danio rerio)

Fish larvae experience many environmental challenges during development such as variation in water velocity, food availability and predation. The rapid development of structures involved in feeding, respiration and swimming increases the chance of survival. It has been hypothesized that mechanical loading induced by muscle forces plays a role in prioritizing the development of these structures. Mechanical loading by muscle forces has been shown to affect larval and embryonic bone development in vertebrates, but these investigations were limited to the appendicular skeleton. To explore the role of mechanical load during chondrogenesis and osteogenesis of the cranial, axial and appendicular skeleton, we subjected zebrafish larvae to swim-training, which increases physical exercise levels and presumably also mechanical loads, from 5 until 14 days post fertilization. Here we show that an increased swimming activity accelerated growth, chondrogenesis and osteogenesis during larval development in zebrafish. Interestingly, swim-training accelerated both perichondral and intramembranous ossification. Furthermore, swim-training prioritized the formation of cartilage and bone structures in the head and tail region as well as the formation of elements in the anal and dorsal fins. This suggests that an increased swimming activity prioritized the development of structures which play an important role in swimming and thereby increasing the chance of survival in an environment where water velocity increases. Our study is the first to show that already during early zebrafish larval development, skeletal tissue in the cranial, axial and appendicular skeleton is competent to respond to swim-training due to increased water velocities. It demonstrates that changes in water flow conditions can result into significant spatio-temporal changes in skeletogenesis