Would 401(k) participants use a Social Security "bridge" option?

Munnell, Alicia Haydock, and Gal Wettstein. “Would 401(k) participants use a Social Security "bridge" option?”. Issue in Brief 22-2, Chestnut Hill, Mass.: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, February 2022. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:109337.
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Abstract

The brief's key findings are: (1) As an alternative to annuities, retirees could use a portion of their 401(k) assets to delay claiming Social Security, effectively buying more lifetime income. (2) To gauge interest in this unfamiliar option, an experiment tested ways to present the bridge, including through an insurance frame or as a default. (3) The results show that: a substantial minority of participants expressed interest in the bridge; and the use of insurance framing and, especially, defaults increased the share of assets allocated to the bridge. (4) These results are a first step; future work should examine the impact of a default in a more realistic setting.

Title
Would 401(k) participants use a Social Security "bridge" option?
Author
Munnell, Alicia Haydock
Wettstein, Gal
School
Carroll School of Management
Discipline
Finance
Center
Center for Retirement Research
Genre
report
Date Issued
February 2022
Publisher
Center for Retirement Research at Boston College
Series Title
Issue in Brief
Series Number
22-2
Persistent Link
http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:109337
Use Restrictions
These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The publisher or original authors may retain copyright to the materials.
Subject
Social Security

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