SeLFIES: A-New(-ity) Look for Retirement

Muralidhar, Arun; Merton, Robert C.; Hogan, Paula

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3548324

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SeLFIES: A-New(-ity) Look for Retirement

9 Pages Posted: 1 Apr 2020

See all articles by Arun Muralidhar

Arun Muralidhar

AlphaEngine Global Investment Solutions; Georgetown University - McDonough School of Business; George Washington University

Robert C. Merton

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Harvard Business School - Finance Unit

Paula Hogan

Creative Planning

Date Written: March 4, 2020

Abstract

Individual investors, policy-makers, and members of the financial services industry are struggling to figure out how best to help individuals prepare for a financially secure retirement; namely, allowing individuals to continue their pre-retirement standard-of-living post retirement. We propose that an incorrect specification of the problem to be solved is leading, not surprisingly, to sub-optimal proposed solutions.1 When the retirement planning challenge is posed correctly, finance science suggests an elegantly simple solution - the creation of a simple new financial instrument that is a win-win-win for individuals, governments and the financial services industry.

Keywords: SeLFIES; Retirement Security, Retirement Income, Retirement Wealth; Financial Innovation

JEL Classification: G50, G51, G52, G53

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Muralidhar, Arun and Merton, Robert C. and Hogan, Paula, SeLFIES: A-New(-ity) Look for Retirement (March 4, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3548324 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3548324