The State of Retirement: Shaping the Future

Listen to the audio of this one-hour webinar held on April 30, 2025 to learn more about the CRI's latest research on this topic and hear from experts about the importance of Social Security claiming timing, how Social Security and private retirement savings work together, and the impact of decisions on overall retirement readiness and financial well-being.

As state-facilitated retirement savings programs are poised to mark $2 billion in assets and 1 million funded saver accounts, new CRI research reveals significant gaps that remain in retirement plan access and the potential of state programs to reach and benefit millions of Americans.(Press Release, Report, and State-by-State Interactive Map). The report also examines the combined effect of direct program participation and induced new private retirement plan formation in three of the early program adopter states.  Listen to the audio of the March 27, 2025 webinar to learn more about this updated analysis. 

Kendra Isaacson, Principal, Mindset and Michael Kreps, Principal, Groom Law Groom offer their predictions about the focus and priorities of a new Congress and a new Administration shaping retirement policy in 2025.    Both Mindset and the Groom Law Group are general supporters of the Center for Retirement Initiatives. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the views of the guests and do not reflect any policy or position of the Center for Retirement Initiatives.

Anne Lester is a well-known retirement expert and perhaps few are as well qualified as Anne to help us better understand how to save smart and retire happy—on own time and target. She shares some of the key lessons from her new book - Living Your Best Financial Life – Save Smart Now for the Future You Want. 

Ken Dychtwald, PhD, is the founder and CEO of AgeWave, an acclaimed think tank and consultancy focused on the social and business implications and opportunities of global aging and rising longevity. His client list has included over half the Fortune 500 companies. During his career, Ken has addressed more than two million people worldwide in his speeches to corporate, association, social service, and government groups. His strikingly accurate predictions and innovative ideas are regularly featured in leading print and electronic media worldwide.   He shares some of the insightful and provocative ideas about the future of aging and what it means for how we live, save, and invest both in the US and globally.  He also has agreed to allow us to post a few slides here to accompany this podcast to provide some helpful context for our discussion.  

Jeri Savage, leader retirement strategist for MFS Investment Management shares the findings of their recent 2023 Global Retirement Survey and 2023 DC Plan Sponsor Survey. These surveys provide some valuable insights into the confidence and knowledge of retirement plan participants, what they need and want from their plans, and how plan sponsors are responding.  As Jeri notes, "there are a lot of positive takeaways: plan participation is up, deferral rates are up....and plan sponsors [are] thinking more holistically."   MFS is a general supporter of the Center for Retirement Initiatives. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the views of the guests and do not reflect any policy or position of the Center for Retirement Initiatives.

David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, assesses the state of the nation's current fiscal and economic condition and discusses the consequences of the failure to act to address some of the biggest challenges we face today.

Surya Kolluri, Head of the TIAA Institute, shares some of the Institute's most recent research to help us understand how financial literacy, longevity literacy, and healthy aging affect retirement readiness. 

Three prominent and influential thought leaders – Anne Ackerley of BlackRock, Catherine Collinson of the Transamerica Institute, and Barbara Marder of the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) - help us better understand how American workers are doing when it comes to their overall financial well-being, retirement confidence and readiness, interest in lifetime income, the desire for help with retirement planning and advice, and how all of this is shaping the future of retirement.  

Colorado Treasurer Dave Young, Maine Treasurer Henry Beck, and Vestwell's Courtney Eccles discuss how these two states worked together to forge the first-in -the nation interstate partnership between state-facilitated retirement savings programs and what it could mean for other state programs in the future. 

Chris Flynn, Head of Product Development and Research, CEM Benchmarking,  discusses the study methods and findings of a recent research project collaboration with the Georgetown CRI.  The study reveals that the lack of asset diversification in DC plans has been a $5 billion annual missed opportunity. Who has missed out? Retirees and the potential improved returns of as much as $2,400 per year in additional income. 

Jason Fichtner, Vice President for Economic Policy, Bipartisan Policy Institute, and Senior Fellow, Alliance for Lifetime Income, shares some key takeaways from the Alliance's recent Protected Income Summit. How do we reimagine retirement planning, change the culture and conversation about retirement advice, and effectively communicate the importance of protected income?

Delaware State Treasurer Colleen Davis shares the experience of building significant bipartisan and popular support for the Delaware EARNS program, one of the most recent state auto-IRA programs enacted in 2022. 

On this audio replay of CRI's February 9, 2023 webinar, Angela Antonelli moderates a series of panel presentations by:    Will Hansen, Chief Government Affairs Officer, American Retirement Association Jessica Muirhead, Executive Director, MyCTSavings Chad Mullen, Director, Financial Security, AARP Chad Parks, CEO, Ubiquity Retirement + Savings William (“Hunter”) Railey, Executive Director, Colorado SecureSavings Program Glenn Simmons, Executive Director, Maryland$aves   sharing their observations about how the latest federal reforms in the SECURE 2.0 Act could reshape the retirement plan market and expand coverage and participation. In addition, three of the newest state-facilitated retirement savings programs now open to all eligible workers - MyCTSavings, Maryland$aves, and the Colorado SecureSavings Program -provide updates on their progress to date.

Connecticut Comptroller Natalie Braswell and Jessica Muirhead, Executive Director, MyCTSavings program, discuss the history, design, and evolution of this state-facilitated retirement savings programs for private sector workers who lack access to an employer-sponsored plan, and share some important some lessons learned for other states and stakeholders considering such programs.  

Three prominent and influential thought leaders – Anne Ackerley of BlackRock, Catherine Collinson of the Transamerica Institute, and Lori Lucas of the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) - help us better understand how American workers are doing when it comes to their overall financial well-being and concerns, their retirement confidence and readiness, the changing nature of the employer and employee relationship, and how all of this is shaping the future of retirement.  

Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, Director of Financial Security Research at the National Institute on Ageing at Ryerson University and Barbara Sanders, Associate Professor  Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University introduce us to the concept of Dynamic Pension Pools, how they are different from other lifetime income solutions, and the role they can play enhancing the quality of life in retirement not only in Canada, but around the world. Their recent policy paper titled “Affordable Lifetime Pension Income for a Better Tomorrow: How we can address the $1.5 trillion decumulation disconnect in the Canadian retirement income system with Dynamic Pension pools” was selected by the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives as part of a Call for Papers in November 2021 for our Annual Policy Innovation Forum.  It was published November 16, 2021 by the National Institute on Ageing at Ryerson University and the Global Risk Institute.

Ayandev Saha, Head of Climate Risk and Insurance, RMD London, introduces us to a new retirement savings scheme launched in Rwanda in late 2018.  This initiative also is outlined in a recent white paper submitted to the CRI titled "Rwf 23.2 billion saved into informal sector pension scheme –Extending pension coverage to the informal sector in Rwanda" for the 2021 Policy Innovation Forum. 

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS EDITION   Chad Parks, Founder and CEO of Ubiquity Retirement +Savings, a fintech company committed to serving the small business market, explains why he supports  new state-facilitated retirement savings programs, the ways in which the public and private sectors can contribute to closing the  savings access gap, the innovation and competition we are seeing with new products and entrants in the small business plan market, and what we can expect from the industry as we look to the future.   Ubiquity is a general supporter of the Center for Retirement Initiatives. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the views of the guests and do not reflect any policy or position of the Center for Retirement Initiatives.

David Blanchett, Managing Director and Head of Retirement Research for PGIM DC Solutions, and Michael Finke, Professor, Professor of Wealth Management and Frank M. Engle Distinguished Chair in Economic Security Research at The American College of Financial Services, explain what we know about how retirees save and spend their money, what information, tools, and solutions can be of the greatest help to retirees to plan for their needs in retirement, and the role lifetime income solutions can play in enhancing the quality of life in retirement. One of their more recent research papers, "Guaranteed Income: A License to Spend" was selected by the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives, with the generous support of the Berggruen Institute, to highlight as part of its virtual 2021 Policy Innovation Forum held November 2-3, 2021. 

On this audio replay of CRI's February 17, 2022 webinar, Angela Antonelli moderates a series of panel presentations by:    The Honorable Stacy Garrity, Treasurer, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania The Honorable Josh Gotbaum, Chair, MarylandSaves Mary Morris, CEO, Virginia529 and the VA Retirement Savings Program John Scott, Retirement Savings Project Director, The Pew Charitable Trusts Katie Selenski, Executive Director, CalSavers Retirement Savings Board The Honorable Dave Young, Treasurer, State of Colorado, and Chair, Colorado Secure Savings Program Board   sharing their experiences to date making the case for these programs, how these new programs continue to innovate in their design and implementation, and what the experience has been for both employers and employees.

Michael Kreps, Principal & Co-Chair of the Retirement Services Practice, Groom Law Group, discusses how well the retirement system continues to hold up as we begin a new year; provides an overview of some of the more significant retirement related legislative reform initiatives considered but not enacted by Congress in 2021 with his predictions for action in 2022; and also reviews the Biden Administration's first year regulatory actions taken, some of which reflected changes from the policy decisions of the prior Administration.  

John Scott, Project Director, Retirement Savings Project, The Pew Charitable Trusts shares the findings of recent research related to the implementation of state auto-IRA retirement savings programs in Oregon and Illinois.  He explains the role these programs play in closing the retirement savings access gap, the budget and economic consequences of doing nothing to address the problem of insufficient retirement savings, how the private sector has responded, and the future trends as more of these programs launch in the next few years.

Theresa Whitmarsh, Executive Director, Washington State Investment Board will retire at the end of 2021 after 18 years of service.  The Board manages more than $165 billion in assets, and is one of the top 5 best funded and highest performing pension funds in the nation.  It also is a leader in private asset investing, with private equity, real estate and tangible assets comprising 48 percent of its retirement portfolio.  Theresa shares some of key best practices and lessons learned that she believes has been critical to the Board's success.

Dennis Simmons, Executive Director of the Committee on the Investment of Employee Benefit Assets (CIEBA), discusses key issues of focus for today's retirement plan sponsors. Chief Investment Officers (CIOs) are keenly focused on the investment performance of their defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) retirement plans and working in the best interest of their employees.  Recent reforms, the current economy and the COVID-19 pandemic have presented some new challenges and opportunities for strengthening the retirement system.

NBER President and MIT Professor James Poterba discussed current demographic and economic trends and the challenges they pose for the future of retirement security.  He provides an update on the current condition of Social Security, what a low return environment means for retirement savings, the importance of financial education, and why designing lifetime income solutions can be complicated.

On this audio replay of CRI's May 13, 2021 webinar, Charles E.F. Millard, former Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and Senior Advisor, Amundi Asset Management moderates a discussion with panelists from the United Kingdom (David Pitt-Watson and Terry Pullinger), the Netherlands (Alwin Oerlemans), and the United States (Bradford Campbell) on challenges faced by defined contribution in turning savings into lifetime income and how experiences from abroad with collective defined contribution (CDC) plans can inform better plan designs for the US.

David Morse, Partner, K&L Gates, provides an overview of how ERISA and the tax code apply to IRAs, 401(k)s and MEPs and what it means for state-facilitated retirement savings programs.  See recent CRI related paper.

Michael Kreps, Principal, Groom Law Group, reviews how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected retirement savings for public and private sector retirement systems, the implementation of the SECURE Act to date, and the prospects for additional legislative and regulatory reform in 2021 and beyond with President Biden and Congress.

VA529 CEO Mary Morris discusses the nature of the retirement savings challenge facing private sector workers in Virginia; the work of the 2020 retirement study lead by VA529 and the feedback received; why the study report recommended an auto-IRA program; and some key program features reflected in their recommendations, many of which are included in the program bill being considered during the 2021 state legislative session.

In this audio replay of CRI's December 15, 2020 webinar, CRI's Executive Director Angela Antonelli and Ethan Connor-Ross, Senior Vice President at Econsult Solutions, Inc. (ESI) discuss the CRI's latest research prepared in collaboration with ESI which evaluates options for providing national universal retirement savings access if some or all employers are required to offer either a payroll deduction Roth IRA or Roth 401(k) plan to their workers. The presentation is followed by a discussion with a panel of experts.  Research related materials can be found at https://cri.georgetown.edu/past-webinars/

California Treasurer Fiona Ma, Chair of the CalSavers Retirement Savings Board and Katie Selenski, Executive Director of CalSavers, discuss the history and goals of the program; its current design and launch, which like so much has been affected by the current COVID pandemic; and some lessons learned.  

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS EDITION Nick Nefouse, Head of Defined Contribution Investment and Product Strategy with BlackRock, and Jeff Cimini, Head of Institutional Product at Voya Financial, discuss the financial challenges facing workers today and how they, along with others, are responding to the demand to provide options to improve financial well-being, including innovative new solutions to generate and protection income in retirement.  BlackRock is a supporter of the Center for Retirement Initiatives. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the views of the guests and do not reflect any policy or position of the Center for Retirement Initiatives.  

Pablo Antolin, the Principal Economist and Head of the Private Pensions Unit, and the Deputy Head of the Insurance, Pensions, and Financial Markets Division, of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shares important considerations in the design of retirement plan arrangements, recent reform trends around the world, and some international best practices policymakers and stakeholders should keep in mind as they respond rapidly to the crises related to COVID-19.

The Honorable Seth Harris, former Deputy Secretary and Acting Secretary of Labor in the Obama Administration, discusses the challenges and options for addressing retirement coverage and adequacy, including the importance of state-facilitated retirement savings programs and provisions of the Secure Act, including pooled employer plans and lifetime income. He also shares his thoughts about how retirement policy and priorities might be different if there are changes in Congress and an Administration after the November 2020 national election.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts, Pennsylvania Treasurer Joe Torsella and Colorado Treasurer Dave Young share their concerns about the financial fragility of too many Americans, the importance of savings, including retirement savings, and their work chairing retirement security study groups in their states leading to recommendations to establish state-facilitated retirement savings programs.

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS EDITION Charles Millard, former Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), Josh Cohen, Managing Director, Head of Institutional Defined Contribution, PGIM and Matthew Brenner, Managing Vice President, Investments, ICMA-RC discuss why DC plans today should consider greater diversification of asset classes and strategies.  Might the COVID-19 economic shock and its impact on portfolios provide evidence of the importance of such diversification during periods of market stress? What are the challenges that slow the inclusion of alternative asset classes, available to defined benefit plans and institutional investors, in DC plans and can they be overcome? PGIM and ICMA-RC are supporters of the Center for Retirement Initiatives. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the views of the guests and do not reflect any policy or position of the Center for Retirement Initiatives.  

David John, AARP Public Policy Institute, shares the history of his bipartisan collaboration with Mark Iwry leading to the creation of the auto-IRA, its adoption by states, and its role in shaping a more holistic approach to savings and financial well-being.

Michael Kreps, Principal, Groom Law Group, reviews the provisions of the recently passed SECURE Act, outlines what these latest reforms could mean for the future of retirement plans, and provides a legislative and regulatory outlook for 2020.

Brigitte Madrian, Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University, highlights findings from her research about the ways choice architecture can shape retirement plan design, the role financial education and emergency savings accounts can play in improving financial security, and how framing strategies can affect decisions to adopt lifetime income solutions.

Harry Smorenberg, CEO of Smorenberg Consultancy, discusses the aging of the global population and how it will inevitably transform how we work, how long we work, and require new approaches to creating and building the sustainable retirement systems of the future.

Professor Annamaria Lusardi, Founder and Academic Director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at George Washington University, explains the severity of financial fragility among Americans today, the lack of financial literacy, and the role financial education can play in helping improve both short-term and long-term financial and retirement security. 

Keith Ambachtsheer, President of KPA Advisory Services, is one of the world's most original thinkers on pension design, governance and investing issues. He explains how Peter Drucker's concept of the "power of three" helps shape his thinking about what's most important in the design of the sustainable retirement income system of the future.

John launched Ariel Investments in the early 1980s and has been very successful for the past 36 years managing funds for investors.  He shares some of the secrets of his investing success and how it can help us prepare for retirement.  We also learn how his leadership and determination to improve financial literacy and advocate for greater diversity and inclusion are transforming lives, communities, businesses and boardrooms across the nation.

Han Yik, Head of Institutional Investors, the World Economic Forum (WEF), explains the objectives of the WEF's Retirement Investment Systems Reform Project and its series of reports that seek to ask and answer the question - "We'll Live to 100 - How Can We Afford It?"

Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read and Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs each share program updates, insights, and lessons learned for their state-facilitated retirement savings programs -OregonSaves and Illinois Secure Choice- as these pioneering states lead the way to expand access and strengthen retirement security for millions of Americans.

Will Sandbrook, Executive Director, UK Nest Insight Unit, reviews the genesis of the UK's NEST program and the next generation of challenges facing DC plans today, including increasing participant engagement, optimizing retirement income, improving the overall financial wellbeing of savers, and reaching workers who lack the traditional employer relationship.

David O'Meara, Head of DC Investment Strategy, Willis Towers Watson discusses trends in DC plan design, the use of target date funds, and whether greater diversification, by including alternative asset classes, can improve retirement income outcomes.   

In this inaugural episode, Michael Kreps, Principal of the Groom Law Group, discusses the legislative outlook and priorities for 2019.