September 2023 MBR The Money/Finance Shelf

The Money/Finance Shelf

Retirement Guardrails
Ian Ayres, author
Quinn Curtis, author
Cambridge University Press
One Liberty Plaza, Fl. 20, New York, NY 10006
www.cambridge.org
9781316518632, $110.00, HC, 180pp

https://www.amazon.com/Retirement-Guardrails-Proactive-Fiduciaries-Outcomes/dp/1316518639

Synopsis: In the world of finance, scores of lawsuits have pushed retirement plan sponsors to shorter, easier-to-navigate menus, but - as co-authors and academicians Ian Ayres and Quinn Curtis argue in "Retirement Guardrails: How Proactive Fiduciaries Can Improve Plan Outcomes" - we have only scratched the surface of retirement plan design.

Using participant-level plan data and straightforward tests, Professors Ayres and Curtis show how plan sponsors can monitor plans for likely allocation mistakes and adapt menus to encourage success.

Beginning with an overview of the problem of high costs and the first empirical evidence on retirement plan fee lawsuits, they offer an overview of the current plan landscape. They then show, based on reforms to a real plan, how streamlining menus, eliminating pitfalls, and adopting static and dynamic limits on participant allocations to certain risky assets or 'guardrails' can reduce mistakes and lead to better retirement outcomes.

Focusing on plausible, easy-to-implement interventions, "Retirement Guardrails" shows that fiduciaries need not be limited to screening out funds but can design menus to actively promote good choices.

Critique: A masterpiece of meticulous and exhaustive research, "Retirement Guardrails: How Proactive Fiduciaries Can Improve Plan Outcomes" is an insightfully informative, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and highly recommended contribution to personal, professional, college, and university library Contemporary Economics and Money/Finance Studies collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, economists, tax advisors, and non-specialist general readers with an interest Banking & Taxation Law that "Retirement Guardrails: How Proactive Fiduciaries Can Improve Plan Outcomes" is also available in a paperback edition (9781009009843, $34.99) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $33.24).

Editorial Note #1: Ian Ayres is a lawyer and economist. He is Deputy Dean and the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Professor at Yale Law School and a Professor at Yale's School of Management.

Editorial Note #2: Quinn Curtis is Professor of Law and an Economist at the University of Virginia School of Law. His work focuses on the regulation of retirement plans and investments.

EDITOR'S NOTE:

The Midwest Book Review is an organization of volunteers committed to promoting literacy, library usage, and small press publishing. We accept no funds from authors or publishers. Full permission is given to post any of these reviews on thematically appropriate websites, newsgroups, listserves, internet discussion groups, organizational newsletters, or to interested individuals. Please give the Midwest Book Review a credit line when doing so.

The Midwest Book Review publishes the monthly book review magazines "California Bookwatch", "Internet Bookwatch", "Children's Bookwatch", "MBR Bookwatch", "Reviewer's Bookwatch", and "Small Press Bookwatch". All are available for free on the Midwest Book Review website at www (dot) midwestbookreview (dot) com

Anyone wanting to submit books for review consideration can send them to:

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive
Oregon, WI 53575-1129

To submit reviews of any fiction or non-fiction books, email them to Frugalmuse (at) aol (dot) com (Be sure to include the book title, author, publisher, publisher address, publisher website/phone number, 13-digit ISBN number, and list price).

James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review