Assessing plans for retirement and beyond

Our experts provide insights into who has retired during the pandemic and whether these retirees might need to return to the workforce.

The Great Resignation was also the Great Retirement. For some, it may become the Great Sabbatical, as retirees return to work. Learn why from Vanguard’s latest research.

This supplement to How America Saves offers practical advice and insights from Vanguard's leading retirement plan experts on how to improve plan efficacy and employee participation. In our 2022 edition, learn more about advice solutions; automatic enrollment and escalation; and ways to meet the needs of a more mobile workforce. 

How America Saves is Vanguard’s seminal report on 401(k) plan design and retirement savings habits. This year’s report reveals plan design opportunities employers can address to further improve workers’ retirement readiness as many participants face increasingly complex financial situations and life events.

Many retired early during the pandemic, but some may have to return to work. Are there other options to meet the savings gap?

The past few decades were a good time for spending from a retirement portfolio. What about the next 30 years? The apparent shifts in capital market conditions seen since the start of 2022 led us to examine sustainable withdrawal rates. Looking at historical return environments our authors developed three scenarios, with rates from 2.8% to 3.3%.

Certain retirement plan provisions can help workers continue to save, even when they switch jobs.

The Financial Independence, Retire Early (F.I.R.E.) movement relies on the 4% rule to determine withdrawals over 40 to 50 years in retirement. But that rule was designed for a 30-year horizon. This paper illustrates how F.I.R.E. investors can improve their chances of financing an early retirement by employing Vanguard’s investing principles.

Personalized, realistic projections of longevity and health care costs in retirement could provide a better foundation for planning than conservative assumptions.

How automatic retirement plan features can boost participant savings rates and enhance long-term outcomes.

This study explores how factoring in health care cost uncertainty can benefit retirement planning by enabling the development of more customized plans. Vanguard researchers employ a stochastic health care model to offer more realistic insights into how longevity and health care-related risks affect the viability of spending plans in retirement.

This research looks at the withdrawal patterns, rates, and frequencies of more than two million Vanguard retail households at or near retirement age. It finds that only 52% took at least one withdrawal during the three-year study period.

John James, head of Vanguard Institutional Investor Group, looks back at the 20-year history of How America Saves. Our seminal report has provided key insights on the defined contribution landscape and ultimately helped to improve investors’ retirement readiness.

One key strategy to boost retirement plan participant outcomes: offer an advice option like a target date fund. Here we discuss findings in Vanguard’s 2022 How America Saves report, along with key insights that can enhance plan design.

Researchers and policymakers have suggested that annuities can help retirees manage the risk of outliving their assets. Vanguard research finds, however, that most retirees are reluctant to annuitize and decide against exchanging liquid wealth for guaranteed income in order to retain future financial flexibility.

Retirees and other income-reliant investors face challenges in this low-yield environment. This paper explains how total-return investing can support spending through both portfolio income and capital appreciation. This approach can help investors minimize portfolio risks, increase portfolio longevity, and meet their spending goals.

Retirement planning is a complex process based on an individual's unique circumstances and objectives. In this paper, Vanguard offers a retirement planning framework to help investors prioritize goals, understand risks, assess available financial resources, and develop a sound plan to achieve financial security.

Automatic enrollment is a pivotal strategy to improve participant outcomes in retirement plans around the world. This paper underscores how default decisions made by plan sponsors have a powerful influence on saving and investment behavior, including increasing participation rates, deferral rates, and usage of default investment options.

This paper presents a framework, developed by Vanguard and Mercer, to forecast health care costs for U.S. retirees. Vanguard researchers outline key health care cost factors and personal considerations and frame expenses as an annual cost rather than a lifetime lump sum, enabling retirees to plan accordingly during their retirement years.

This piece describes how understanding changes in volatility, stock-bond correlation, and inflation can affect a retirement withdrawal strategy.  It draws from research set to publish in The Journal of Retirement later this year, “Sustainable Withdrawal Rates by Return Environment: A Time-Varying Bayesian Analysis”. Andy Clarke, CFA and Kevin Khang, PhD are featured throughout.

Seven in 10 defined contribution plan participants are saving enough to replace 65% of their salary in retirement. A new Vanguard white paper looks at several ways plan sponsors can help participants boost these replacement rates. Among them: Automatic enrollment defaults and enhanced employer contributions.

An omnibus bill signed into law on December 29, 2022, has wide-ranging impact on retirement plans and participants.

Those on the road to retirement (or already there) may benefit from one or more of the changes in SECURE 2.0.

High-income super savers will benefit from new provisions around RMDs, 529 plans, and more.

Sustainable withdrawal rates can vary considerably, depending on the levels of desired bequests, portfolio depletion risk, and asset allocation, highlighting the need for customization rather than relying on a single rule of thumb.

Retiring and relocating typically unlocks $100,000 in home equity for retirement, Vanguard research finds.

Automatic savings features have helped participants sock away more—sometimes significantly so—for retirement.

Sustainable withdrawal rates can vary considerably, depending on the levels of desired bequests, portfolio depletion risk, and asset allocation, highlighting the need for customization rather than relying on a single rule of thumb. Learn more about the feasible ranges.

New provisions can help young savers who are saving for retirement and also trying to meet nearer-term goals.

The traditional target-date fund might be too conservative for some retirees in poor health. Such investors might consider personalized advice.

Vanguard managing director John James describes how simple it can be to start saving for retirement, from taking advantage of the company match within an employer plan to considering a target-date fund.

Updated Vanguard research highlights three key steps to help people choose Medicare coverage options.

Maria Bruno, Head of U.S. Wealth Planning Research at Vanguard, explains what investors should keep in mind to determine whether they are on track for a secure retirement.

Understanding your health care priorities and available coverage types can help you choose a Medicare coverage option, according to Vanguard researchers.

A new Vanguard research paper sheds light on how investors’ health state can affect their asset allocation and consumption in retirement.