Nevin's Data "Points"

Our view during Super Bowl XLVII. There are some things in life that have to be experienced first-hand. Several years back, my daughter won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Super Bowl for two – and, to my delight, she chose to invite me to go with her. Now, I’m sure some of you have been to a Super Bowl, but it was my first (and, considering ticket prices, I’m guessing my last). And while I’m sure the view from the comfort of home and a big screen TV offered a “better” view of Beyonce’s halftime show, there are things (and people) you see when you are at the event that don’t make a TV producer’s selection (particularly when you happen to be at the Super Bowl where the field lights went out for 34 minutes). Let’s face it, it’s one thing to say you watched the Super Bowl – and something else altogether to say you were there! You wouldn’t know it from the headlines, but there’s actually a lot going on here in our nation’s capital. Like a smoldering ember, in no ...

Rarely a week goes by that a headline, survey or academic paper doesn’t proclaim the reality of a retirement crisis with the certainty generally reserved for topics like the existence of gravity, or the notion that the sun will rise in the east. And certainly based on the data cited, there would seem to be a compelling case that trouble lies ahead for many. That said – as was pointed out by Andrew Biggs at the recent Plan Sponsor Council of America conference – the reality is that good, reliable data is hard to come by. Indeed, many of the reports cited in those headlines rely on what you would expect to be a reliable source; the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey, or CPS. 1 Unfortunately, that reliable source turns out to be not-quite-so-reliable. It suffers from relying on what people tell the survey takers, but perhaps more significantly, Biggs, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, pointed out that the survey only counts as income in r...

Pundits have long worried that retirees wouldn’t have accumulated enough to live on in retirement, but the data suggests that most retirees aren’t exactly burning through their retirement savings. I remember my one and only conversation with my father about retirement income. He had already decided to quit working, and had gathered his assorted papers regarding his savings, insurance, etc. for me to review. Determined to “dazzle” Dad with my years of accumulated financial acumen, I proceeded to outline an impressive array of options that offered different degrees of security and opportunities for growth, the pros and cons of annuities, and how best to integrate it all with his Social Security. And when I was all done, he looked over all the materials I had spread out before him, then turned to me and said – “so how much will I have to live on each month?” See, my dad, like many in his generation, were accustomed to living within their means. And, according to new ...

It is a question that has puzzled philosophers and scientists for centuries: which came first – the chicken or the egg? Similarly, an updated version of a classic survey of retirement confidence finds some interesting attributes among those who are more confident about their prospects – but are those attributes a result of that confidence, or is it the confidence that preceded them? The 28th annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) from the non-partisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Associates found that Americans are feeling a bit better about their retirement prospects. However, the RCS also found  – as it has in previous years – that certain factors are tied to higher confidence, specifically if they have access to a defined contribution plan, are relatively free from debt, are already retired – or, in a new finding from this year’s RCS – that they are healthy. Now, the connection between access to a retirement plan and saving...