I. Summary 3

II. The role of guaranteed lifetime income in retirement 4

How do annuities work? 4

The benefits of guaranteed lifetime income 5

III. Other than Social Security, guaranteed lifetime income in retirement is declining 6

What existing data sources say about the prevalence of lifetime income 6

Employer offering of lifetime income options remains limited 6

Use of lifetime income options by retirees is declining 7

New evidence from the Health and Retirement Study 8

IV. Many factors limit use of guaranteed lifetime retirement income 11

Rational individual preferences 11

Behavioral and cognitive biases 12

Institutional factors 12

V. The current policy landscape 13

ERISA and lifetime income 13

Efforts to increase lifetime income from 2006-2022 14

Ongoing efforts to increase use of guaranteed lifetime income 15

Lifetime income policies in the United Kingdom 15

VI. Approaches for greater use of lifetime income in retirement 16

Transferring employer fiduciary responsibility to alternative entities 16

Making it easier for retirees to acquire lifetime income through defaults 18

Other possible approaches to increase annuitization 18

VII. Conclusion 20

References 21

Technical Appendix 27

Data source and sample construction 27

Income measurement and variable construction 27

Classification of annuitized income 28

Income quintile construction 29

Limitations and measurement issues 29