Joel Dickson: How America Saves

<p>Our guest on the podcast today is Joel Dickson, global head of enterprise advice methodology for Vanguard. Joel oversees all investment methodology development for Vanguard’s advice programs, including Vanguard Personal Advisor and Vanguard Digital Advisor. Joel has worked at Vanguard for more than 25 years in a number of investment-related roles. He earned an A.B. from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. Joel can speak to a huge array of investment-related topics, but today he is here to discuss “How America Saves,” which is Vanguard’s annual report on the 401(k) plans it oversees and one of the best lenses into the state of American’s retirement preparedness.</p><p>Background</p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeldickson/" target="_blank">Bio</a></p><p>How America Saves</p><p><a href="https://institutional.vanguard.com/content/dam/inst/iig-transformation/has/2023/pdf/has-insights/how-america-saves-report-2023.pdf" target="_blank">How America Saves 2023</a></p><p>“<a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/retirement/401k-auto-enrollment/" target="_blank">401(k) Auto Enrollment</a>,” by Kat Tretina<a href="http://forbes.com/" target="_blank">, forbes.com</a>, Dec. 30, 2022.</p><p>“<a href="https://www.plansponsor.com/target-date-funds-have-normalized-workers-equity-allocations/" target="_blank">Target-Date Funds Have Normalized Workers’ Equity Allocations</a>,” by Noah Zuss, <a href="http://plansponsor.com/" target="_blank">plansponsor.com</a>, April 10, 2023.</p><p>“<a href="https://institutional.vanguard.com/insights-and-research/perspective/a-preview-of-how-america-saves-2023.html" target="_blank">Positive Signs in a Challenging Economy</a>,” <a href="http://vanguard.com/" target="_blank">Vanguard.com</a>, Feb. 3, 2023.</p><p>“<a href="https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/articles/personalized-approach-to-financial-advice.html" target="_blank">A More Personalized Approach to Financial Advice</a>,” by Joel Dickson, <a href="h