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August 01, 2006 at 04:00 PM
The looming generation shift may cut annual investment returns by an average of about 0.5% in coming decades.
Researchers at the U.S. Government Accountability Office make that prediction in a report on the possible effects of the retirement of the baby boomers on investment returns.
Some market forecasters have speculated that the boomers, who were born from 1946 to 1964, might cause a severe market slump once they start shifting assets into more conservative investments and converting assets into income.
But GAO researchers analyzed 13 academic simulations of what might happen when the boomers retire, and “none of the simulation-based studies concluded that the U.S. baby boom retirement will precipitate a sudden and sharp decline in asset prices,” Barbara Bovbjerg and George Scott, GAO officials, write in a report summarizing the results of the analysis.
One study suggested annual returns might be about 0.87% lower than they would be without the boomer retirement effect, and another suggested the gap might be about 1%, the GAO officials write.
