The assumption that everybody will figure out how much they have to save and then will just implement that plan is obviously preposterous.

I think one lesson we have to learn is that there's a lot more risk than we're giving credit to, a lot more what economist calls systematic risk.

Recall that people like to do what most people think it is right to do; recall too that people like to do what most people actually do.

The lesson from behavioral economics is that people only save if it's automatic.

People worry that if they buy an annuity and then die before the policy starts to pay off, their heirs will lose out. I tell them, "What you should be more worried about is if you outlive your money, you will have to move in with your kids. Ask your kids which of these outcomes they are more worried about."

My mantra is if you want to help people accomplish some goal, make it easy.

LTCM lost money when Russia defaulted on a certain class of bonds, and then they had other investments like on the spread between two different kinds of shares of Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company. Now that seems completely unrelated to Russian bonds. But they were related because other hedge funds saw similar discrepancies and they were all making similar bets.