The State of Retirement: Shaping the Future

Shaun Snyder, CEO of the National Association of State Treasurers, introduces SURCH, the States' Unclaimed Retirement Clearinghouse, a new initiative that leverages state unclaimed property systems to help plan sponsors and recordkeepers reunite uncashed retirement benefit checks with the workers and retirees who are owed them.

Nick Nefouse, Global Head of Retirement Solutions and Head of LifePath for BlackRock, discusses the shifts underway in how Americans save, invest, and ultimately spend in retirement. From the role of private market assets and active management in target date funds, to the need for guaranteed lifetime income and the progress being made to close the access gap, Nick brings BlackRock's 2026 Retiremen...

Kevin Walsh, a Principal at the Groom Law Group, and Kendra Isaacson, a Principal at Mindset, unpack President Trump's State of the Union proposal to expand retirement savings access for uncovered workers. The conversation explores the competing Congressional proposals on the table and how the Administration might act on its own to close the retirement coverage gap. They look ahead at the broader...

Listen to this audio of a GeorgetownCRI webinar held on September 24, 2025, where industry experts Scott Carroll of Gallagher, Kevin Gaston of Vestwell, Michael Kreps of the Groom Law Group, David Lipscomb of Ascensus, and Michael Salerno of NPPG explore the current PEP market landscape. Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) have grown rapidly, reaching $9.41 billion in assets and over 1 million participan...

Listen to this audio of a GeorgetownCRI webinar held on September 10, 2025 exploring why so few small businesses take advantage of tax credits designed to help them offer retirement plans. Despite substantial expansions to the Section 45E tax credit through the SECURE Acts, fewer than 6% of eligible firms actually claim it—a puzzle that a new CRI working paper, cross-published by NBER, seeks to un...

Listen to this audio of a GeorgetownCRI webinar held on September 3, 2025 on the topic of private assets in defined contribution retirement plans. Two new GeorgetownCRI reports challenge common myths about private assets and demonstrate how modest exposures to private credit, equity, and real assets can improve retirement outcomes by 7% to 8% for workers with disrupted savings patterns. Joining mo...

Barbara Van Zomeren is head of government relations at Ascensus and Michael Kreps chairs the Groom Law Group's Retirement Services practice. In this episode, Barbara and Michael share their insights about Trump accounts - the new childhood savings vehicles offering $1,000 government contributions for eligible newborns. They will explain eligibility and contribution rules, address administrative an...

John Mitchem is a Non-Resident Scholar with the Center for Retirement Initiatives and the Owner of JM3 Projects. John also is the Co-Founder of the Jasper Forum along with Jorik Van Zanden, and they bring together retirement policy practitioners and experts from around the world to discuss retirement system challenges, best practices, and lessons learned. In this episode, John explores the $65 tri...

Rebecca Tadikonda, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Innovation, Athene, discusses the challenges individuals face saving for retirement, the importance of lifetime income, what savers say they want and need when managing their income once they retire, and how the industry is innovating with products designed to respond to these wants and needs.  Athene is a general supporter of the Center fo...

Listen to the audio of this one-hour webinar held on April 30, 2025 to learn more about the CRI's latest research on this topic and hear from experts about the importance of Social Security claiming timing, how Social Security and private retirement savings work togethe r, and the impact of decisions on overall retirement readiness and financial well-being.

As state-facilitated retirement savings programs are poised to mark $2 billion in assets and 1 million funded saver accounts, new CRI research reveals significant gaps that remain in retirement plan access and the potential of state programs to reach and benefit millions of Americans.( Press Release, Report, and State-by-State Interactive Map ). The report also examines the combined effect of dire...

Kendra Isaacson, Principal, Mindset and Michael Kreps, Principal, Groom Law Groom offer their predictions about the focus and priorities of a new Congress and a new Administration shaping retirement policy in 2025.    Both Mindset and the Groom Law Group are general supporters of the Center for Retirement Initiatives. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are the views of the guests and...

Anne Lester is a well-known retirement expert and perhaps few are as well qualified as Anne to help us better understand how to save smart and retire happy—on own time and target. She shares some of the key lessons from her new book - Living Your Best Financial Life – Save Smart Now for the Future You Want . 

Ken Dychtwald, PhD, is the founder and CEO of AgeWave, an acclaimed think tank and consultancy focused on the social and business implications and opportunities of global aging and rising longevity. His client list has included over half the Fortune 500 companies. During his career, Ken has addressed more than two million people worldwide in his speeches to corporate, association, social service,...

Jeri Savage, lead retirement strategist for MFS Investment Management, shares the findings of their recent 2023 Global Retirement Survey and 2023 DC Plan Sponsor Survey. These surveys provide some valuable insights into the confidence and knowledge of retirement plan participants, what they need and want from their plans, and how plan sponsors are responding.  As Jeri notes, "there are a lot of po...

David Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, assesses the state of the nation's current fiscal and economic condition and discusses the consequences of the failure to act to address some of the biggest challenges we face today.

Surya Kolluri, Head of the TIAA Institute, shares some of the Institute's most recent research to help us understand how financial literacy, longevity literacy, and healthy aging affect retirement readiness. 

Three prominent and influential thought leaders – Anne Ackerley of BlackRock, Catherine Collinson of the Transamerica Institute, and Barbara Marder of the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) - help us better understand how American workers are doing when it comes to their overall financial well-being, retirement confidence and readiness, interest in lifetime income, the desire for help wit...

Colorado Treasurer Dave Young, Maine Treasurer Henry Beck, and Vestwell's Courtney Eccles discuss how these two states worked together to forge the first-in -the nation interstate partnership between state-facilitated retirement savings programs and what it could mean for other state programs in the future. 

Chris Flynn, Head of Product Development and Research, CEM Benchmarking,  discusses the study methods and findings of a  recent research project collaboration   with the Georgetown  CRI .  The study reveals that the lack of asset diversification in DC plans has been a $5 billion annual missed opportunity. Who has missed out? Retirees and the potential improved returns of as much as $2,400 per year...

Jason Fichtner, Vice President for Economic Policy, Bipartisan Policy Institute, and Senior Fellow, Alliance for Lifetime Income, shares some key takeaways from the Alliance's recent Protected Income Summit. How do we reimagine retirement planning, change the culture and conversation about retirement advice, and effectively communicate the importance of protected income?

Delaware State Treasurer Colleen Davis shares the experience of building significant bipartisan and popular support for the Delaware EARNS program, one of the most recent state auto-IRA programs enacted in 2022. 

On this audio replay of CRI's February 9, 2023 webinar, Angela Antonelli moderates a series of panel presentations by:    Will Hansen, Chief Government Affairs Officer, American Retirement Association Jessica Muirhead, Executive Director, MyCTSavings Chad Mullen, Director, Financial Security, AARP Chad Parks, CEO, Ubiquity Retirement + Savings William ("Hunter") Railey, Executive Director, Colorad...

Connecticut Comptroller Natalie Braswell and Jessica Muirhead, Executive Director, MyCTSavings program, discuss the history, design, and evolution of this state-facilitated retirement savings programs for private sector workers who lack access to an employer-sponsored plan, and share some important some lessons learned for other states and stakeholders considering such programs.  

Three prominent and influential thought leaders – Anne Ackerley of BlackRock, Catherine Collinson of the Transamerica Institute, and Lori Lucas of the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI) - help us better understand how American workers are doing when it comes to their overall financial well-being and concerns, their retirement confidence and readiness, the changing nature of the employer a...