Drawing on research into sequence-of-returns risk, this piece offers practical guidance for plan sponsors and advisors on how annuity products can serve as a hedge against poor market returns in the critical years surrounding retirement.

DCIIA gathered over 400 members and guests at the annual Academic Forum in New York City in November 2024 to explore cutting-edge topics in retirement and financial security.

Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute methodically dissects ten prominent studies that have fueled the crisis narrative, identifying the methodological flaws, overstated assumptions, and definitional choices that drive their pessimistic conclusions. Alongside that critique, he presents a range of income, poverty, and self-reported financial security data showing that today's seniors are, by most measures, the most financially secure in American history—and that working-age households are saving more, contributing more, and retiring later than past generations did.

Most parties to institutional investing—trustees, CIOs, and consultants alike—have failed to comprehend, or in some cases abide by, the distinction between investment policy—the proper purview of trustees solely—and investment strategy—the domain of CIOs and their investment management staffs. Ignoring this crucial division of labor had often led to mediocre returns in the institutional investing arena; since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, Ennis estimated, “public pension funds have underperformed passive management by 1.2% per year (and) for large endowments, the figure is at least 2.2%.”

Public perceptions of and trust in retirement planning instruments significantly affect people’s behaviors and ultimately their retirement readiness. In light of aging populations and extended lifespans, planning for retirement is more imperative than ever. Utilizing a nationally representative sample of the US population (n = 870), we study public views around retirement options, confidence in financial decisions, and retirement planning satisfaction levels.

As a worker’s time spent in retirement increases, so, too, do the cumulative effects of inflation and the risk posed by unanticipated financial shocks (Elder Index 2025). The economic problem of relying on retirement assets to fund consumption over an uncertain lifespan is simple to state yet difficult to solve. Recently, retirement income solutions have emerged that address the challenge of longevity risk, in particular.

This piece presents research on plan sponsor preferences for retirement income design, with a focus on opt-in and revocable structures that preserve participant flexibility. It reflects sponsor sentiment on balancing simplicity, fiduciary considerations, and participant outcomes.

In mid 2025, the project completed its final phase to survey 150+ plan sponsors to understand barriers to retirement income adoption and perspectives on how to integrate products into plan design. Taken together, the findings provide a window into obstacles and the conditions needed for broader adoption.

October 2025: The RRC gathered in Minneapolis, MN for a Summit geared towards personalization. Topics explored personalization from multiple angles, including challenges to traditional asset allocation assumptions, participant misconceptions about the cor