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DCIIA White Paper - Cover Thumbnail

DCIIA Plan Sponsor Survey 2014: Focus on Automatic Plan Features


DCIIA research findings show that using automatic enrollment and automatic contribution escalation increases retirement plan participation rates as well as retirement savings rates.The survey identifies both the promise of what is possible and the barriers that remain to adoption of automatic features in a number of plans. Catherine Collinson, president of Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, is one of whitepaper’s authors.
Behavioral finance and pension decisions Lampros Romanos_thumbnail

Behavioral finance and pension decisions

by Lampros Romanos 
in conjuction with Erasmus University Rotterdam and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies

An extensive literature review and a focused analysis on how framing effects, financial literacy, self-control and loss aversion affect pension decisions

The retirement landscape is rapidly changing with pension savings shifting to Defined Contribution plans. This means that individuals are increasingly confronted with more responsibilities to make decisions about their retirement savings. They are however, neither qualified enough, nor always willing to make such difficult decisions. The present paper after reviewing relevant behavioral theories and studies, uses the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS) 15th Annual US Retirement Survey to examine the impact of framing effects, financial literacy, self-control and loss aversion on those decisions. It finds strong framing and anchoring effects on the match threshold of a matching contribution feature within 401 (k) or similar plans. Moreover, the findings of this paper suggest that financial literacy cannot significantly mitigate these framing effects. Lastly, this paper shows that commitment devices such as having multiple savings accounts can significantly increase ‘out of work’ savings for retirement.
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Global Retirement Expectation Gaps -- TCRS featured in PIMCO’s DC Dialogue (January 2015)

Stacy Schaus, PIMCO’s Defined Contribution Practice Leader, interviews with Catherine Collinson, president of Transamerica Institute and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, a nonprofit based in the U.S. and Lex Solleveld, retirement product design leader of Aegon in the Netherlands about similarities and differences between retirement systems in the US and The Netherlands.
MarketFacts Destination Retirement Article Thumbnail

Destination Retirement: Three Different Roads for Three Unique Generations

LIMRA’s MarketFacts Quarterly, October 2014
by Catherine Collinson
ASA Thumbnail

Baby Boomers Will Trailblaze New Retirement Models (They Have To)

Aging Today, American Society on Aging, September/October 2014
by Catherine Collinson
© 2017 Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies®. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® (TCRS) is a division of Transamerica Institute®, a nonprofit, private foundation. Transamerica Institute is funded by contributions from Transamerica Life Insurance Company and its affiliates and may receive funds from unaffiliated third parties. TCRS and its representatives cannot give ERISA, tax, investment or legal advice. This material is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as ERISA, tax, investment or legal advice. Interested parties must consult and rely solely upon their own independent advisors regarding their particular situation and the concepts presented here. Although care has been taken in preparing this material and presenting it accurately, TCRS disclaims any express or implied warranty as to the accuracy of any material contained herein and any liability with respect to it.

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