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

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.