In an age of unprecedented longevity, a focus on lifelong individual financial security has never been more crucial. The mission of the Financial Security Division is to bring a unique interdisciplinary perspective to financial security issues facing our society by rethinking the perceived problems around an aging population, especially retirement planning and the need to work longer. By understanding the role that research, education and policy can play in solving these issues and by looking at the problems from multiple perspectives, we will drive the dialogue forward in order to facilitate a healthier state of long-term financial security for the individual and society.
CURRENT PROJECTS
FINANCIAL CAPABILITY
GENERATING RETIREMENT INCOME
One of the greatest risks to lifetime financial security is the failure to adequately turn retirement savings into retirement income. In the shift from defined benefit plans to defined contribution plans, this complex task once managed by employers is now left to the individual. There is increasing interest in looking at systematic ways to provide options to employees in order to reduce the risk and complexity of managing in retirement income. The Center has a series of projects underway to address this issue.
“THE NEXT EVOLUTION IN DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT PLAN DESIGN”
The Center was awarded a grant by the Society of Actuaries to author a paper providing information on institutional lifetime income products and approaches. The paper, “The Next Evolution in Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Design”, authored by Center Research Scholar, Steve Vernon and published in September 2013, evaluates the potential solutions available for generating retirement income and examines the issues and processes involved with implementing, administering and communicating a retirement income program for retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries. Read the paper >>
SURVEY GAME – “SAVE THE USS/USA”
Jane Hickie is the project leader for “Save the USS/USA, a collaboration with the Stanford Center on Health Policy, designed to engage the public in policy issues surrounding the costs of health care. Visit the game website >>
The Stephen F. Bechtel Foundation has funded additional work on “Save the USS/USA.” Professors Jay Bhattacharya and Kate Bundorf of the Stanford Center on Health Policy are building on the work of the game by surveying 1000 to 1500 voters to compare a traditional survey to the survey game. Their work will be offered for scholarly publication. In the coming months, we will contact policy organizations to review and update the survey game content to reflect current issues and solutions. With the content considered and updated, a group of game experts will then be asked to make the survey game more engaging to play. The result will be an updated and improved survey game.
WORKING LONGER
An obvious way to insure financial security in retirement is for individuals to work longer. Recent surveys indicate that most people want to or expect to work beyond traditional retirement age and by 2020, the percent of the workforce made up of those 55+ is expected to be 25.2%. This aging workforce presents both challenges and opportunities for employers, yet little is known about the needs and expectations of employers with regard to this population of workers. The Center is focusing its early efforts on identifying and understanding the various strategies employers are using to adapt to the aging workforce.
“DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE AGING WORKFORCE”
Prepared by Center Senior Research Scholar, Adele Hayutin, this project (published in July 2013) examined the demographic trends relevant to understanding the aging workforce. The data analysis looked at population shifts and labor force shifts by industry, occupation, age, job tenure and a number of other relevant variables. This paper is intended to be the first in a series examining the demographics of the workforce.
Read more >>
ADAPTING TO AN AGING WORKFORCE LAUNCH CONFERENCE
The Center convened a Launch conference in April 2013 with a mix of employers, academics and policy experts to discuss strategies for adapting to an aging workforce. The employers in the room represented almost 10M employees and had a range of issues regarding the graying workforce. There was a robust discussion that touched many important themes, such as how to create an effective multigenerational work environment, how to help employees prepare financially and emotionally for retirement, and how to create a systemic and comprehensive approach to work and careers as employees are able to work longer. Read more >>
FINANCIAL FRAUD
The Research Center on the Prevention of Financial Fraud, the Center’s collaboration with FINRA, was officially launched in the early summer of 2011. The goal of the center is to catalyze interest in research on financial fraud prevention, publicize the research findings of work being done on fraud prevention, generate interest in funding fraud prevention research and create a community of policy makers, practitioners and researchers who are interested in the study of fraud prevention.
SCAMS, SCHEMES & SWINDLES – A RESEARCH REVIEW OF CONSUMER FINANCIAL FRAUD
The Center issued a white paper in October of 2012, which reviewed the relevant research relating to consumer financial fraud. The document has been widely distributed to both practitioners and policy makers.
Read more >>
FACULTY WORKSHOP
A goal of the Fraud Research Center is to increase the interest in researching the issues around fraud. To that end, the Center hosted a workshop in October 2012 that brought together faculty from the Business School, Economics, Psychology and Law to discuss ways their own research could be applied to fraud. We continue to explore research ideas with several faculty in attendance.
FRAUD SEED GRANT
The Center awarded a seed grant to Prof. Ian Gotlib in October 2012, to study the effects of positive and negative arousal states in older adults and how that might impact susceptibility and vulnerability to financial fraud. Results are expected in December 2013.
SIZING THE PROBLEM: CHALLENGES 
WITH TRADITIONAL FRAUD PREVALENCE MEASURES
The Center presents a summary of research on measuring consumer financial fraud. Current estimates of fraud prevalence vary widely, making it difficult for law enforcement, researchers, and policymakers to appreciate the true scope of the problem. This report aims to reconcile the variability of fraud prevalence estimates, to explain why it is so difficult to obtain reliable and valid estimates, and to suggest ways to improve fraud prevalence measurement. Read the report >>
WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
The Financial Security Division has been involved in two related initiatives being led by the World Economic Forum, focused on social protection systems.
SUSTAINABILITY, RISKS AND CHALLENGES OF CURRENT RETIREMENT INCOME SCHEMES
Martha Deevy participated on the committee that focuses on the sustainability of worldwide social protection systems. Incomes of the retired population draw from various sources and this report evaluates the sustainability of those sources. Building on a framework of retirement income sources published by the World Bank the report provides a comparative synopsis of 36 countries, evaluating the fiscal sustainability for each element in the framework. The final report was published and distributed by the World Economic Forum. December, 2012. Read the report >>
GLOBAL AGENDA COUNCIL: SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS
Michele Burns has been chairing this committee for the past year and has led the committee to develop a framework for sustainable social security systems that is applicable to both developing and developed nations. The Center has been instrumental in contributing to the content and developing the materials for the committee. This is an ongoing Council and the Center will continue to provide support as needed.