Thesis advisor: Jonathan Reuter / This dissertation is comprised of three essays that focus on the role of overseeing entities in retirement plans. In the first essay, I study the role of trustee and non-trustee service providers as well as the composition of a firm's board of directors in overseeing 401(k) plans. I ask whether differences in the number and type of these 401(k) plan overseeing entities can explain differences in 401(k) plan performance and structural characteristics. Using a proprietary dataset of 401(k) plans, I find that having more trustee and non-trustee service providers results in better menu performance. However, these findings are not robust when benchmark adjusting performance. Second, I find that having more non-trustee service providers leads to less menu diversification and higher fund level expenses, but lower total plan expense. Last, having more trustee service providers and a greater percentage of insiders on a firm's board of directors results in a more generous company match. My results suggest that 401(k) plans are significantly impacted by oversight decisions, and that improving oversight quality may be a more effective way to mitigate 401(k) plan losses than focusing on increasing financial literacy of plan participants. In the second essay, I examine the nature of compensation for 401(k) plan consultants and ask whether variations in the form of compensation explain variations in 401(k) plan costs and menu performance. Using a proprietary dataset of 401(k) plans, I find that 401(k) plans which hire a consultant experience lower fund level fees and higher after-fee returns if the consultant does not participate in revenue sharing arrangements. In exchange for their services to improve plans, consultants without revenue sharing arrangements charge higher fees to offset their revenue losses from not having opaque arrangements. This results in higher administrative expenses for plans. The net effect is a 9.6 basis point annual gain for the average plan participant or a 24.7 basis point annual gain for a plan participant invested in the default menu choice, assuming that employees pay the higher administrative expense. My findings are robust to a narrower definition of a consultant, additional controls for investment expertise, retirement expertise and bargaining power, falsification tests, and propensity score matching. Overall, my findings suggest that 401(k) plan menu design may be improved through the use of a consultant if the consultant does not suffer from conflicts of interest. In the third essay, I empirically test whether governance mitigates underfunding in US public pension plans. Traditional governance proxies in public sector defined benefit plans focus on plan board of directors. However, plan responsibilities extend beyond the board and are addressed by state or plan policies and by other entities involved in pension oversight. Using unique governance survey data for US public pension plans, I measure governance in an agency theory framework and in a theoretical best practices framework. In the first framework, governance proxies include state and plan policies while in the second, governance proxies include the distribution of oversight responsibilities. I find that the most important governance policies are those that encourage sponsor commitment to paying required annual contributions. I also find that theoretical best practices do not mitigate plan underfunding. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of workplace financial education on workers' personal finances and work outcomes and determine relationships among financial management (attitudes, knowledge and behaviors), financial well-being, personal finance-work conflict, and work outcomes with data of white-collar workers in an insurance company in mid-western states. Research questions were (1) What are the profiles of financial attitudes, financial knowledge, financial behaviors, financial well-being, personal finance-work conflict, productivity, absenteeism, work time use, organizational commitment, pay satisfaction, loyalty, and intention to leave?, (2) Do the profiles of financial attitudes, financial knowledge, financial behaviors, and financial well-being differ by the individual characteristics?, (3) Do the profiles of personal finance-work conflict, productivity, absenteeism, work time use, organizational commitment, and pay satisfaction differ by the individual characteristics?, (4) What are the relationships among financial attitudes, financial knowledge, financial behaviors, financial well-being, and work outcomes (productivity, absenteeism, organizational commitment, and pay satisfaction)?, (5) What are the effects of workplace financial education on financial attitudes, financial knowledge, financial behaviors, financial well-being, and work outcomes?, and (6) What are the individual profiles of workplace financial education including participation, value of workplace financial education, reasons for participation and non-participation, desire for financial check-up, and desired topics of workplace financial education? The research design was a pre- and post-assessment survey. A pre-assessment survey was conducted in February and March 1999 before workplace financial education was provided during March 1999. One-and one-half hour workplace financial education workshops were provided at no cost to employer or employees in March 1999. Three months after the workplace financial education was provided, a post-assessment survey was conducted from June through August 1999. A pre-assessment questionnaire was mailed to all 476 workers (five were undeliverable) and 262 responses were utilized for data analysis. In the post-assessment, 482 questionnaires were mailed to workers and five were undeliverable. Usable return rates for the data analysis were 56.0% in the pre-assessment (262/471) and 40.0% in the post-assessment (189/477). Overall, the respondents in this study were somewhat positive toward financial management, were not knowledgeable on financial matters, and were practicing their financial behaviors fairly well. Objective financial well-being measures showed that workers were in fairly good financial condition but the levels of subjective financial well-being were about the mid-point on a scale, when each score was converted into a percentage. The workers reported that they were very productive, did not miss work days frequently, were highly committed to their organization, and they showed fairly high levels of pay satisfaction. Workers were very hesitant to admit to direct questions asking about whether or not their financial concerns interfered with their responsibilities at the workplace while they were not always able to do normal work even though they were present in the office and spent some work time handling financial matters. Some of individual characteristics influenced financial attitude, financial knowledge, financial behavior, financial well-being, personal finance-work outcomes, and work outcomes. The tests of the structural equation model showed that worker's personal finances had direct and indirect effects on work outcomes. The financial well-being had a negative effect on personal finance-work conflict. The financial well-being had direct effects on negative work time use and pay satisfaction. The financial well-being had indirect effects through personal finance-work conflict on absenteeism, negative work time use, and organizational commitment. The t-test results did not show the significant effects of workplace financial education on personal finances and work outcomes between the pre- and the post-assessment. / Ph. D.

Pensionen är en viktig del av en individs framtida liv som mycket väl kan innebära skillnaden mellan ett lyckligt eller miserabelt liv som pensionerad. I vardagen kan vi höra om pensionen och var vi bör vända oss, vare sig det gäller media, affischer eller annan reklam, men vet vi tillräckligt för att kunna pensionsplanera? Denna kvantitativa studie använder sig av data från en norsk enkätundersökning på internet, för att ta reda på vilka faktorer som kan påverka individers pensionsplanering i form av privat sparande. Studien lyckas bekräfta en positiv relation mellan privat sparande och fyra variabler; årsinkomst, åldersgrupp, tankar kring pension samt sysselsättning. / The pension is an important part of an individual’s future life which could very well be the difference between a happy or a miserable life as a retired individual. In everyday life we hear about retirement and where we should turn, whether it is media, posters or other advertising, but do we know enough to be able to forge a retirement plan? This quantitative study uses data from a Norwegian internet based survey, to find out what factors can influence individuals’ retirement planning in the form of private savings. The study succeeds confirm a positive relationship between private saving and four variables; annual income, age cohort, thoughts on retirement and employment.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo o estudo da natureza jurídica do saldo de conta (aqui designado como reserva matemática) de que o participante é titular durante a fase de acumulação de um plano de Contribuição Variável de entidade aberta de previdência privada. O tema foi desenvolvido à luz do Direito do Seguro, por meio do confronto dos elementos jurídicos e técnicos dos contratos de seguros privados com os dos contratos previdenciários privados, e ainda levando em consideração a evolução dos produtos de previdência privada e seguros no contexto do bancassurance. Dada a escassez de literatura nacional específica sobre o tema, o estudo foi realizado com o suporte do Direito Comparado. / The present work aims to study the legal nature of \"account balance\" (herein referred as \"mathematical reserves\") that the participant holds during the accumulation phase of a variable contribution retirement plan. The subject was developed according to Insurance Law, by confronting the legal and technical elements of private insurance contracts with retirement plan contracts, and considering the evolution of retirement plans and insurance products in the context of bancassurance. Given the lack of specific literature on this subject in Brazil, this study was conducted with the support of Comparative Law.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo o estudo da natureza jurídica do saldo de conta (aqui designado como reserva matemática) de que o participante é titular durante a fase de acumulação de um plano de Contribuição Variável de entidade aberta de previdência privada. O tema foi desenvolvido à luz do Direito do Seguro, por meio do confronto dos elementos jurídicos e técnicos dos contratos de seguros privados com os dos contratos previdenciários privados, e ainda levando em consideração a evolução dos produtos de previdência privada e seguros no contexto do bancassurance. Dada a escassez de literatura nacional específica sobre o tema, o estudo foi realizado com o suporte do Direito Comparado. / The present work aims to study the legal nature of \"account balance\" (herein referred as \"mathematical reserves\") that the participant holds during the accumulation phase of a variable contribution retirement plan. The subject was developed according to Insurance Law, by confronting the legal and technical elements of private insurance contracts with retirement plan contracts, and considering the evolution of retirement plans and insurance products in the context of bancassurance. Given the lack of specific literature on this subject in Brazil, this study was conducted with the support of Comparative Law.

勞退新制即將在 94年 7 月 1 日起正式實施，在新的退休金體系下，勞工可由舊制的確定給付制轉換到擁有資產配置與投資決策權利的確定提撥制。台灣的勞退新制可分為兩種退休金制度供勞工選擇－個人帳戶制及其他年金制。確定提撥制與確定給付制在本質上有諸多的差異性，分別具有不同的優缺點，在本文的假設下，轉換選擇權存在於個人帳戶制與其他年金制之間。另外，在期望達到勞工退休金財富極大化的目標下，勞工會選擇在適當的時點，由個人帳戶制轉換到其他年金制。 　　雖然本文是採定值模型來分析，但是提供一個直觀上充分的洞悉與表徵，來解釋勞退新制下之個人帳戶制及其他年金制之間，若存在一最適轉換時點，其在經濟意涵中所表示之抵換關係與經濟價值為何。本文建構一個退休金財富極大化之模型，結合數值模擬的方法來分析其要點。研究結果發現，最適轉換時點之衡量，是由兩種制度下的變動率，而非帳戶內金額之大小來決定；此外，年金精算現值計算經折現後的給付率和剩餘工作年數，對於勞動工作者的選擇也屬重要變數之一。另外，本文針對年輕的勞工，在不同投資報酬率環境下，計算出兩種制度間抵換的價值；最後，本文也探討了執行轉換選擇權對於不同年紀的勞動工作者影響的幅度。總而言之，本文希望提供勞動工作者在勞退新制下，一個退休金財富配置最適化的準則，及執行轉換選擇權時參考的方針。 / The newly Labor Pension Act will be carried out in 2005 soon. Under this new pension system, employees will be given the choices of converting their traditional defined benefit (DB) pension plan into an individual-account defined contribution (DC) pension plan with full control over assets allocation and investment decisions. Under DC pension plan in Taiwan, there are two types of pension plan- Individual Account System and Commercial Pension Plan System- for employees to choose. DC and DB pension plan are totally different in essences, so on the basis of our assumptions, switch options will exist among Individual Account System and Commercial Retirement Plan System. Thus, in order to maximum employees’ retired wealth, employees might choose the optimal time to convert Individual Account System into Commercial Pension Plan System. Although our model is deterministic in nature, we believe that it provides an intuitive insight about switch options. We find not only the optimal switch time between Individual Account System and Commercial Retirement Plan System but also the “trade-off” economic values. This paper designs a model of maximizing retired wealth and makes numerical simulation to analyze optimal switch time. We find it is the “rate of change” of these two different pension systems affects the times for employees to exercise switch options. Besides, both the payment-rate scaled present value of the DB pension annuity and the retirement horizon are significant parameters in our analysis. Third, we also calculate the threshold investment returns between Individual Account System and Commercial Pension Plan System under various investment environments. Finally, we also contrast the effects of exercising switch options between younger and older employees. In short, we want to provide some principles for employees to make the optimal retired wealth allocation under Newly Labor Pension Act, then exercise switch options at the proper time.