Resident Scientist Robert Merton Receives PSCA Lifetime Achievement Award

The Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) recently awarded Robert C. Merton with its 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor recognizes Merton for his decades of noteworthy contributions toward improving the retirement outcomes of the American worker.

“We are pleased to bestow this honor on such a distinguished member of the retirement community,” said Will Hansen, PSCA executive director. “PSCA appreciates Dr. Merton’s willingness to share his insights with our members.”

In addition to serving as Resident Scientist at Dimensional Fund Advisors, Merton is the School of Management Distinguished Professor of Finance at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the John and Natty McArthur University Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. His many accolades include being recognized with the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1997.

Merton’s expertise also has been shared in myriad media articles covering the topic of retirement. He was among the first financial experts to publicly examine the US SECURE Act of 2019 when it was proposed. His commentary, “5 ways to make the SECURE Act meet participants’ needs,” addresses the need to focus on, and communicate the importance of, expected income in retirement rather than account accumulation.

Merton is engaged in putting his theory into practice at Dimensional, where he helped create the firm’s Target Date Retirement Income Fund^® solutions. These are global, integrated solutions that advance his income-focused approach to retirement planning.

Since its beginning, Dimensional has been shaped by leading academics. These individuals and their research contributed significantly to the establishment of the firm, including the use of a scientific framework to develop and systematically deliver comprehensive, high-quality, and low-cost investment solutions. Today, celebrated academics continue to play a pivotal role in Dimensional’s rigorous approach to interpreting, testing, and applying research in practical ways.  

Merton received the Lifetime Achievement Award during the PSCA National Conference on April 28. He joins Dimensional Founder and Chairman David Booth, among others, in being named a recipient of this award. Booth was honored with the inaugural PSCA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.