Commonwealth and DCIIA RRC recognized the COVID-19 pandemic as a unique window for exploring the relationship between retirement savings and emergency savings, and initiated a two-phase research project. Our research demonstrates the significant benefits employees can gain when companies and retirement savings providers partner to offer emergency savings opportunities, and provides insights into steps employers and recordkeepers can take now and going forward.

DCIIA announced the appointment of Pamela Hess, CFA, as Vice President of Research and Member Engagement, bringing extensive retirement research experience from her prior role as Director of Retirement Research at Aon Hewitt. Hess, a founding DCIIA member, returned to the organization to support its Retirement Research Center, Plan Sponsor Institute, and broader efforts to improve retirement outcomes.

As the retirement industry evolves and works to instill a holistic financial mindset among participants, ESAs bring an opportunity for plan sponsors to help their participants delineate between retirement savings and emergency funds and expand education on the topic of short-term versus long-term financial planning needs.

As part of its ongoing assessment of the global defined contribution (DC) savings industry, the DCIIA Global Committee conducted an initial survey of 10 key markets. This report summarizes basic information about market size, structure, contributions, distributions, investment design, recordkeeping, administration, retirement income, and taxation.

Over the past 15 years, target date funds have become foundational in the defined contribution (DC) system. This study was launched in 2017 to provide insight into custom target-date fund solutions (cTDFs), including their basic structure, asset allocation, asset class exposure, and returns.

Pam Hess was promoted to Executive Director of the DCIIA Retirement Research Center, taking over day-to-day leadership from founding Executive Director Warren Cormier, who transitioned to a Director Emeritus role focused on expanding the RRC's proprietary research pipeline. Hess had previously served as the RRC's Vice President of Research since 2021.

In this inaugural column on behalf of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA), I’d like to briefly introduce our organization and our partnership with The Journal of Retirement.