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Retirement Disparities in the U.S. by Race, Ethnicity, Age, and Income

Background

The Society of Actuaries (“SOA”) Research Institute is the research arm of the SOA, providing objective, data-driven research that brings together tried and true practices and future-focused approaches to address societal challenges and business needs. The Institute provides trusted knowledge, extensive experience and new technologies to help effectively identify, predict and manage risks. Part of the Institute’s efforts are dedicated to objectively exploring issues within the insurance, retirement and financial industries that affect people of color or other dimensions of diversity in the United States.

In 2022, the Institute published Disparities in the Pursuit of Financial Security in Retirement by Race and Ethnicity: A Review of the Disparities and Key Metrics to Monitor Them in the Future. That work identified several metrics for tracking disparities in retirement preparedness across races/ethnicities and socioeconomic factors in the United States. The Institute is interested in updating and expanding that research by looking at disparities in retirement assets across races and ethnicities by various combinations of socioeconomic and demographic factors.

Purpose and Research Objective

The SOA Research Institute is seeking researchers to update and expand the work done in Disparities in the Pursuit of Financial Security in Retirement by Race and Ethnicity: A Review of the Disparities and Key Metrics to Monitor Them in the Future. Preferred expansion includes, but may not be limited to:

  • Updating existing metrics with more current data, to the extent that more current data is available now or will be available soon.
  • Quantifying differences in retirement assets—including employer-based defined contribution plan accounts and IRAs or other retirement-dedicated assets—in the U.S. across races and ethnicities within combinations of age, income groups, and sex.
  • Quantifying differences at further degrees of granularity to the extent that relevant and appropriate data is available. Levels of granularity of particular interest include urbanicity, household structure, immigration status and acculturation level, employment sector (public, nonprofit, or private), industry, employer size, U.S. region, gender (in addition to sex), and levels of financial literacy. Understanding how the metrics differ by these combinations is critical to drawing meaningful conclusions to the question of disparities across races/ethnicities, sex, and gender.
  • Analyzing the impact of COVID-19 on retirement assets of diverse groups to the extent that data allows.

Proposal Requirements

To facilitate the evaluation of proposals, please submit the following information:

  1. Resumes of the researcher(s), including any graduate student(s) expected to participate, indicating how their background, education and experience bear on their qualifications to undertake the research. If more than one researcher is involved, please designate a single individual as the lead researcher and primary contact. The person submitting the proposal must be authorized to speak on behalf of all the researchers as well as for the firm or institution on whose behalf the proposal is submitted.

  2. An outline of the approach to be used (e.g., literature search, model, etc.), emphasizing issues that require special consideration. Details should be given regarding the data and techniques to be used, collateral material to be consulted, and possible limitations of the analysis. Details regarding the data to be used includes discussion of granularity challenges as well as other known strengths and weaknesses of each data source and/or dataset, including whether data is by individual or by household, and the anticipated impact on or limitation of study results, including on the assignment of race and ethnicity.

  3. A description of the expected deliverables and any supporting data, tools or other resources.

  4. Cost estimates for the research, including computer time, salaries, report preparation, material costs, etc. Such estimates can be in the form of hourly rates, but in such cases, please include time estimates. Any guarantees as to total cost should be given and will be considered in the evaluation of the proposal. While cost will be a factor in the evaluation of the proposal, it will not necessarily be the decisive factor.

    As a guide for developing the project budget, please review the Historical Project Cost Guide (Appendix).

  5. A schedule for completion of the research, identifying key dates or time frames for research completion and report submissions. The SOA Research Institute is interested in completing this project in a timely manner. Suggestions in the proposal for ensuring timely delivery, such as fee adjustments, are encouraged.

  6. Other related factors that give evidence of a proposer's capabilities to perform in a superior fashion.

Selection Process

The SOA Research Institute will appoint a Project Oversight Group (POG) to oversee the project. The POG will help to review proposals and may also seek input from other knowledgeable individuals, but the SOA Research Institute will make the final recommendation, subject to SOA Research Institute leadership approval. An SOA Research Institute staff research actuary will provide staff actuarial support.

Questions

Any questions regarding this RFP should be directed to Lisa Schilling, senior research actuary, at lschilling@soa.org.

Notification of Intent to submit Proposal

If you intend to submit a proposal, please email written notification by March 31, 20232, to Lisa Schilling at lschilling@soa.org

Submission of Proposal

Please email your proposal to Lisa Schilling at lschilling@soa.org; proposals must be received no later than April 14, 2023. It is anticipated that all proposers will be informed of the status of their proposal by the end of May 2023. The research project will begin as soon as legal contracting is completed, or at another time as mutually agreed upon by the Institute and lead researcher.

Conditions

The selection of a proposal is conditioned upon and not considered final until a Letter of Agreement is executed by both the SOA Research Institute and the researcher.

The SOA Research Institute reserves the right to not award a contract for this research. Reasons for not awarding a contract could include, but are not limited to, a lack of acceptable proposals or a finding that insufficient funds are available. The SOA Research Institute also reserves the right to redirect the project as is deemed advisable.

The SOA Research Institute plans to hold the copyright to the research and to publish the results with appropriate credit given to the researcher(s).

The SOA Research Institute may choose to seek public exposure or media attention for the research. By submitting a proposal, you agree to cooperate with the SOA Research Institute in publicizing or promoting the research and responding to media requests.

The SOA Research Institute may also choose to market and promote the research to members, candidates and other interested parties. You agree to perform promotional communication requested by the SOA Research Institute, which may include, but is not limited to, leading a webcast on the research, presenting the research at an SOA meeting, and/or authoring an article on the research for an SOA newsletter.

Conflict of Interest

You agree to disclose any of your material business, financial and organizational interests and affiliations which are or may be construed to be reasonably related to the interest, activities and programs of the SOA Research Institute.

Appendix: Historical Project Cost Guide

The cost ranges below are intended as a guide for budgeting project costs for proposals in response to SOA Research Institute Request for Proposals (RFP). Please note these figures span the 33rd to 66th percentiles for all projects as well as projects that involve a specific approach (lit review, survey, etc.). They are based on historical costs over several recent years. Expected costs for some RFPs may fall outside these ranges depending on the nature of the work and resources required for completion.

All Contracted Projects

This category includes all contracted projects that the Institute has undertaken within the last several years. The 33rd–66th percentile project costs range is $25,000–$50,000.

Literature Reviews

This category includes projects that involved only a literature review or the cost for the portion of a larger project that included a literature review. The 33rd–66th percentile project costs range is $15,000–$20,000.

Surveys

This category includes all projects that had a survey as their primary component. The 33rd–66th percentile project costs range is $28,000–$55,000.