2013 Annual Report

Washington, DC

The Pension Policy Center seeks consulting and research projects concerning pensions, Social Security, financial planning for retirement, and other retirement issues.

This is the sixth annual report of the Pension Policy Center. The year 2013 was a productive year.

Pension Policy Center Presentations

John Turner served on a panel for the General Accountability Office that reviewed the Form 5500 data that pension plans used to report to the Department of Labor. He also appeared as a witness before the ERISA Advisory Council, presenting testimony on public policy concerning lost pensions and lost pensioners. He presented seminars on pension investment regulation for the Financial Services Volunteer Corps in Bujumbura, Burundi. He also presented seminars on pension investing for Neoedge in Singapore. Turner was a discussant at a pension session at the annual meetings of the American Economic Association in San Diego. He was a plenary speaker at conferences in France, Australia and Poland, and also spoke at a conference in Germany. He gave a presentation to the Tax Economists Forum in Washington, DC.

 

Pension Policy Center Publications

 

Turner published “Longevity Insurance: Improving Social Security for Older Retirees” in the John Marshall Law Review.

Turner published “Using Behavioral Economics to Encourage Annuitization by 401(k) Participants and IRA Holders” in Benefits Quarterly.

Dana Muir of the University of Michigan and Turner published “The Market for Financial Advisers,” in O. S. Mitchell and K. Smetters, eds., The Market for Retirement Financial Advice. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Rose Musonye Kwena of the Retirement Benefits Authority of Kenya and Turner published “Extending Pension and Savings Scheme Coverage to the Informal Sector Kenya’s Mbao Pension Plan,” in the International Social Security Review.

 

Leslie Muller of Hope College and Turner published “The Persistence of Employee 401(k) Contributions Over a Major Stock Market Cycle: The Limited Power of Inertia” in Benefits Quarterly.

David D. McCarthy of the Pension Policy Center and Turner wrote a paper on “Longevity Insurance in 401(k) Plans and IRAs,” which was published in Benefits Quarterly.

 

Turner wrote “Providing Longevity Insurance Annuities: A comparison of the Private Sector versus Social Security,” which was published in The Journal of Retirement.

Muir and Turner wrote a paper on “Financial Literacy and Financial Advice: Weak Links in Social Security Privatization,” which Turner presented at a conference sponsored by the European Network for Research on Supplementary Pensions, which was be published in English in Poland as a conference volume

 

Reports

With Nari Rhee of the National Institute on Retirement Security, Turner prepared the report “Lessons for Private Sector Retirement Security from Australia, Canada, and the Netherlands.”

With George (Sandy) Mackenzie of the AARP Public Policy Institute, Turner wrote “Key Issues on which Financial Advisers Disagree Concerning Retirement Planning” for the AARP Public Policy Institute.

Turner prepared a report on “Hybrid Pensions: Risk Sharing Arrangements for Pension Plan Sponsors and Participants,” for the Society of Actuaries.

Accepted for Publication

 

Muir and Turner wrote a paper on “Financial Literacy, Financial Education and Financial Advice,” which will be published by Upjohn Institute in an edited volume in 2014.

Norman Stein of Drexel University and Turner wrote an article on “Equity in the Distribution of Tax Preferences for Pensions: Capping the Allowable Amount in Tax-Preferenced Retirement Plans,” which will be published in the Florida Tax Review.

With Marek Szepanski of the Technology University of Poznan, Poland Turner coedited the book on Social Security and Pension Reform: International Perspectives, published by the Upjohn Institute in 2014.

 

Tianhong Chen of Wuhan University (China) and Turner had accepted for publication in 2014 “Extending Social Security to the Rural Sector in China” in the International Social Security Review.

Tianhong Chen of Wuhan University in China and Turner published a chapter on “Social Security in China” in a book published by the Upjohn Institute in 2014 that Turner coedited.

David Blake of the Pensions Institute in London and Turner wrote “Longevity Insurance Annuities: Lessons from the United Kingdom,” which will be published in Benefits Quarterly in 2014.

Norman Stein of Drexel University, David McCarthy of the Pension Policy Center and Turner wrote “Closing a Tax Loophole: Defined Contribution Plans with Large Individual Account Balances,” which will be published in the Journal of Retirement in 2014.

Pension Policy Center Press

Turner was interviewed in January by the local NBC affiliate concerning the increase in the Social Security payroll tax.

Turner was cited in an article concerning pensions in other countries in the New York Times on May 15.

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