The Market for Retirement Financial Advice

Olivia S. Mitchell is Department Chair and International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor of Insurance and Risk Management, and Professor of Business and Public Policy, as well as Director of the Pension Research Council and the Boettner Center on Pensions and Retirement Research at the Wharton School. Concurrently Dr. Mitchell is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a Co-Investigator for the AHEAD/Health and Retirement Studies at the University of Michigan. Her main areas of research and teaching are pensions, insurance and risk management, public finance and labor markets, with an international focus. She received the B.A. in Economics from Harvard University and the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kent Smetters is the Boettner Chair Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research examines incomplete markets, investment risk management, and the interaction of risk management and public policy. Previously, he worked at the Congressional Budget Office and served as Economics Policy Coordinator for the US Treasury. He received his Bachelor's degrees in Economics and Computer Science from The Ohio State University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University.

1. The Market for Retirement Financial Advice: An Introduction 1 ; I. WHAT DO FINANCIAL ADVISERS DO? ; 2. The Market for Financial Advisers ; 3. Explaining Risk to Clients: An Advisory Perspective ; 4. How Financial Advisers and Defined Contribution Plan Providers Educate Clients and Participants about Social Security ; 5. How Important Is Asset Allocation To Americans Financial Retirement Security? ; 6. The Evolution of Workplace Advice ; 7. The Role of Guidance in the Annuity Decision Making Process ; II. MEASURING PERFORMANCE AND IMPACT ; 8. Evaluating the Impact of Financial Planners ; 9. Asking For Help: Survey and Experimental Evidence on Financial Advice and Behavior Change ; 10. How to Make the Market for Financial Advice Work ; 11. Financial Advice: Does it Make a Difference? ; 12. When, Why, and How Do Mutual Fund Investors Use Financial Advisers? ; III. MARKET AND REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS ; 13. Harmonizing the Regulation of Financial Advisers ; 14. Regulating Financial Planners: Assessing the Current System and Some Alternatives