US Couples Lose Average of $14,000 in Matching Retirement Contributions Over Lifetimes

About 20% of couples could increase their retirement savings by nearly $750 annually by reallocating their existing contributions to the account with the higher employer match rate, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “Efficiency in Household Decision Making: Evidence from the Retirement Savings of U.S. Couples.”

The authors of the May 2025 report—Taha Choukhmane of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lucas Goodman of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Cormac O’Dea of Yale University—were awarded the 30th annual Paul A. Samuelson Award by TIAA on January 5.

“The research done by this year’s winners highlights a critical but often overlooked aspect of retirement planning—household coordination,” said Surya Kolluri, head of the TIAA Institute, in a statement.

The research published in the American Economic Review found that many couples in the U.S. fail to coordinate their retirement contributions efficiently, costing them an average of $14,000 in lost employer matches over their lifetimes. Couples at the 10th percentile of effective coordination had missed out on about $40,000 over their lifetimes.

The study also found that half of inefficient allocations were done by mistake, due to a lack of understanding of the importance of coordinating savings. As an example, Choukhame identifies misunderstanding of divorce law.

“In case of a divorce, they won’t have access to the assets, and so that’s something where information could really help,” Choukhame says.

He says once advisers step in, spouses are more likely to understand how assets are divided in case of a divorce.

The other half of inefficient allocations are done deliberately—meaning that even with sufficient education, plan participants often accept losses due to concerns over trust, fairness and independence.

“Even when we explain it to people, they say, ‘No, I’m OK leaving money on the table because I want to keep control of my account,’ or ‘I don’t trust my spouse’ or ‘I want to be independent,’” Choukhmane says.

Couples who seek financial advice and guidance, however, were most likely to successfully address  lost retirement savings, Choukhmane says.

“Retirement planning is done at the individual level. A lot of the simulators only ask you questions about you, your financial goals, are you taking advantage of your match, and less so about what’s available at the household level,” Choukhmane says. “Making sure that the participant really thinks about the household dimension of these decisions is something where I think plan advisers can really help.”