“The observed lack of annuitization does not necessarily mean that people are better off without annuities,” write retirement specialists Jeff Brown, Olivia Mitchell and others in a new research paper. They link low financial literacy to low annuity sales.

In a regular new feature on the latest retirement-related research, we look at a variety of recent articles, including one that might just change the way you think about tax-efficient spending strategies.

A penalty on plan sponsors for failing to make scheduled deferrals to auto-enrolled plan participants was identified as a barrier to adoption of auto-enrollment into retirement plans, so the IRS has conditionally removed it, on a trial basis, until 2021.

People who retire at age 62 should spend personal savings for eight years and claim Social Security at age 70, rather than claim SS at age 62. So says John Haley, CEO of Towers Watson, in this lively video taped at the Bipartisan Policy Center recently.