1. Retirement Prospects for Millennials: What is the Early Prognosis
By Richard Johnson, Karen Smith, Damir Cosic, & Claire Xiaozhi Wang at Urban Institute
Discussant: Sean Huang
2017 Retirement Research Meeting
August, 3, Washington, DC

2. Why Should We Care? Important Topic
Less coverage from employers:
Moving from Defined Benefits to Defined Contributions
Reducing retiree health benefits
Unfavorable economic trends:
Stagnating wages, increasing debts, declining home ownership
Higher life expectancy:
Living longer but not necessarily healthier/ medical costs

3. Summary of Findings
Better education attainment for both men (34%) and women (40%).
Different results in labor participation and earnings between men and women……is this due to education & recession?
Lower participation in employer-sponsored retirement plans Worse among men than women….why?
Homeownership is lower than previous generations, but not for other financial assets.

4. Some Thoughts
30 is the new 20? better education in college/graduate school may postpone the timing of participation in labor markets
Findings in the paper might be due to the shift of timelines….E.g. marriage, home ownership, job…etc.
Should we still retire at 65? What are the policy recommendations for the shortfall of retirement savings?

5. Extension ?
Could you separate the predictions by gender/race/education groups? Compared to previous generations, women seem doing better than men in some aspects.
More young adults now live with parents to save rents and pay down debts. Could you see this in your data and how this may affect your results?