Fu Tan

Background

About Fu Tan

Driven by a passion to transform retirement for millions of Americans, I'm on a mission to craft innovative financial solutions that span generations. As a Senior Investment Strategist at Vanguard's Investment Strategy Group, I blend cutting-edge empirical and quantitative research with real-world impact. My journey—from Shanghai Jiao Tong University to Duke University, and then to a Ph.D. in Economics from UW-Madison—has shaped my perspective on the intersection of macroeconomics, household finance, and public policy. I now lead large-scale research initiatives that inform retirement plan design, investment strategy, and system-wide policy improvements. I work with extensive administrative and survey data (401(k), credit bureau, SCF, SIPP, HRS) and apply dynamic modeling, structural methods, and statistical learning to understand and improve financial outcomes. My work has been widely shared with industry partners, policymakers, and media. Recent highlights include- Vanguard Retirement Outlook: a national model assessing Americans’ retirement readiness across generations and income levels- Job Transitions Slow Retirement Savings: empirical evidence using millions of records to support policy innovation around portable savings- Health State Risk Categorization: A Machine Learning Clustering Approach published in the Journal of Financial Data Science. From designing smarter auto-enrollment defaults to shaping public narratives on savings inequality, I strive to bridge rigorous research with practical impact. Whether you're in policy, fintech, or asset management, I welcome collaboration to reimagine what retirement security can look like in the age of AI and demographic change.