Risks and Planning: What Did COVID-19 Teach Us?

By Anna Rappaport, F.S.A., M.A.A.A.

COVID-19 created major new health risks for Americans at all ages and, at the same time, had a major impact on the economy and daily life, exacerbating a wide variety of retirement risks. The retirement system faced major challenges before the pandemic, but the pandemic and its consequences may change the way people look at retirement issues. This article reviews how COVID-19 changed the economic environment, the work environment and the situation for retirees. It provides insights into employer responses to date and a discussion about what they might do in the future. Organizations that make major changes in employment strategies will also need to revisit their retirement benefits strategies. This article further provides a discussion of retirement risks based on recent Society of Actuaries (SOA) research and includes COVID-19 impacts on the risks. It brings together consideration of retirement risks, the environment before COVID-19, changes in that environment and possible future directions for retirement benefits. In 2020, SOA released a new version of its “Post-Retirement Risk Chart” and several reports on retirement risk and COVID-19. These reports were also used to inform this article.​​

https://www.iscebs.org/Resources/BQ/Pages/BQ-executive-summaries-2021.aspx

Changes as We Age, Caregiving, Long-Term Care and the Family

By Anna Rappaport, F.S.A., M.A.A.A.

Many people experience cognitive and/or physical decline as they age. Their first source of support when they need help is often the family, including their adult children. Caregiving adult children are often employed, and helping with the needs of their parents or other family members can impact their ability to perform their own jobs. Society of Actuaries (SOA) research provides insights about the challenges facing aging Americans and the impact these challenges have on their adult children. This article will highlight implications for employers and present ideas for helping employees deal with these issues as part of their financial wellness programs.

https://www.iscebs.org/Resources/BQ/Pages/BQ-executive-summaries-2020.aspx

Morgan Stanley says “Every American’s Home Is Their Retirement Asset”

By Daniel Hunt, Lisa Shalett, Zi Ye, and Stephanie Wang on March 31, 2020

The answer to the question, “How prepared are you for retirement,” depends a lot on whether you look holistically at the balance sheet, including home equity, or just at the portfolio and income sources like Social Security. When home equity is ignored, that can cause households to make suboptimal decisions, such as forgoing longplanned spending it could afford or taking more investment risk than it’s comfortable with. When a questionable decision like that encounters the kind of market downturn we are currently experiencing, it can do serious damage to household finances and well-being.

Find the report here:

How to Recession-proof Your Retirement Have a Mortgage and are age 62+? Consider a Reverse Mortgage

February 16, 2020

Economists Are Gloomy!? Many feel a recession is coming.

Wharton Business School’s Olivia S Mitchell recently addressed the challenges of retirement, especially for retirees. Key steps: First, “try to put together a summary budget” and “make sure you have an emergency fund.”

Academy member Tom Davison discusses the benefits of reverse mortgages for retirees and the various ways they are beneficial for consumers.

Find the full article here.

Propriety Reverse Mortgage Products Could Eclipse FHA’s HECM Program in 2019

Written by Jamie Hopkins on July 2, 2019

The reverse mortgage market world heads in reverse away from the government created Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and towards new propriety products. This is an encouraging sign because any healthy market needs competition, innovation, and variety. However, recently HECM program has been the driving force behind the reverse mortgage world, leaving many without an ideal solution to utilizing home equity as part of a sustainable retirement plan.

The article can be found here.