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The Wealth of Cohorts: Retirement Saving and the Changing Assets of Older Americans

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Author Info
David A. Wise
Steven F. Venti

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Abstract

Personal retirement accounts are becoming an increasingly important form of retirement saving. Using data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the paper considers the effect of this change on the assets of recent retirees and persons who are approaching retirement. Much of the analysis is based on comparison of younger and older cohorts with different lengths of exposure to personal retirement saving programs. The findings suggest that personal retirement saving has already added substantially to the personal financial assets of older families. Projections imply that the personal financial assets of the cohort that will attain age 76 in 28 years will be almost twice as large as the personal financial assets of the cohort that attained age 76 in 1991. The results indicate also that to date there has been little replacement of employer-provided pension saving with personal retirement saving. Together with evidence that personal financial saving is unrelated to changes in home equity, the results suggest that personal retirement saving will lead to an important increase in the overall wealth of the elderly.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 4600.

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Date of creation: Dec 1993
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:4600

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Gale, W.G. & scholz, J.K., 1992. "IRAS and Household Saving," Papers 9244, Tilburg - Center for Economic Research.
    Other versions:
  2. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1995. "401(k) Plans and Tax-Deferred Saving," NBER Working Papers 4181, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. repec:att:wimass:19909 is not listed on IDEAS
  4. Daniel Feenberg & Jonathan Skinner, 1989. "Sources of IRA Saving," NBER Working Papers 2845, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
    • Daniel Feenberg & Jonathan Skinner, 1989. "Sources of IRA Saving," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 3, pages 25-46 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  5. B. Douglas Bernheim & John B. Shoven, 1985. "Pension Funding and Saving," NBER Working Papers 1622, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
    • B. Douglas Bernheim & John B. Shoven, 1988. "Pension Funding and Saving," NBER Chapters, in: Pensions in the U.S. Economy, pages 85-114 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  6. John F. Wilson & James L. Freund & Frederick O. Yohn, Jr & Walther Lederer, 1989. "Measuring Household Saving: Recent Experience from the Flow-of-Funds Perspective," NBER Chapters, in: The Measurement of Saving, Investment, and Wealth, pages 101-152 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Venti, Steven F & Wise, David A, 1986. "Tax-Deferred Accounts, Constrained Choice and Estimation of Individual Saving," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(4), pages 579-601, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Jonathan Feinstein & Daniel McFadden, 1987. "The Dynamics of Housing Demand by the Elderly: Wealth, Cash Flow, and Demographic Effects," NBER Working Papers 2471, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. repec:att:wimass:199226 is not listed on IDEAS
  10. Hubbard, Robert Glenn, 1985. "Personal Taxation, Pension Wealth, and Portfolio Composition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 53-60, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. David A. Wise & Robin L. Lumsdaine, 1990. "Aging and Labor Force Participation: A Review of Trends and Explanations," NBER Working Papers 3420, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  12. B. Douglas Bernheim & John Karl Scholz, 1993. "Private Saving and Public Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 7, pages 73-110 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1989. "Aging, Moving, and Housing Wealth," NBER Working Papers 2324, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. Munnell, Alicia H, 1976. "Private Pensions and Saving: New Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(5), pages 1013-32, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 1995. "The Effects of Special Saving Programs on Saving and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 5287, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Louise Sheiner & David N. Weil, 1992. "The Housing Wealth of the Aged," NBER Working Papers 4115, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Jonathan Skinner, 1991. "Housing and Saving in the United States," NBER Working Papers 3874, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  18. Hilary Williamson Hoynes & Daniel McFadden, 1994. "The Impact of Demographics on Housing and Non-Housing Wealth in the United States," NBER Working Papers 4666, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. Diamond, P. A. & Hausman, J. A., 1984. "Individual retirement and savings behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 81-114. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Douglas H. Joines & James G. Manegold, 1991. "IRAs and saving: evidence from a panel of taxpayers," Research Working Paper 91-05, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Gary V. Engelhardt, 2000. "Have 401(k)s Raised Household Saving? Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study," Social and Economic Dimensions of an Aging Population Research Papers 33, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
  2. Arie Kapteyn & Rob Alessie & Annamaria Lusardi, 1999. "Explaining the Wealth Holdings of Different Cohorts: Productivity Growth and Social Security," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 99-069/3, Tinbergen Institute. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. M. Baldini & C. Mazzaferro, 2000. "Transizione demografica e formazione del risparmio delle famiglie italiane," Working Papers 366, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna. [Downloadable!]
  4. William Bassett, 1995. "Defined contribution plans: the role of income, age and match rates," Research Paper 9517, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [Downloadable!]
  5. Hubbard, R Glenn & Skinner, Jonathan S, 1996. "Assessing the Effectiveness of Saving Incentives," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 73-90, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Gelber, Alexander M., 2009. "How do 401(k)s Affect Saving? Evidence from Changes in 401(k) Eligibility," MPRA Paper 13613, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  7. Arthur B. Kennickell & Annika E. Sunden, 1997. "Pensions, social security, and the distribution of wealth," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 1997-55, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
  8. Poterba, James M & Venti, Steven F & Wise, David A, 1996. "How Retirement Saving Programs Increase Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 91-112, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Massimo Baldini & Paolo Onofri & Carlo Mazzaferro, 2002. "The Reform of Italian Pension System and its Effects on Saving Behaviour," Center for the Analysis of Public Policies (CAPP) 0013, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia Politica. [Downloadable!]
  10. Engen, Eric M & Gale, William G & Scholz, John Karl, 1996. "The Illusory Effects of Saving Incentives on Saving," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 113-38, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Grant M Scobie & John K Gibson, 2003. "Household Saving Behaviour in New Zealand: Why do Cohorts Behave Differently?," Treasury Working Paper Series 03/32, New Zealand Treasury. [Downloadable!]
  12. repec:att:wimass:199722 is not listed on IDEAS
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