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Precautionary Portfolio Behavior from a Life-Cycle Perspective

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Author Info
Carol C. Bertaut (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)
Michael Haliassos (University of Cyprus and IMOP Athens)

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Abstract

The literature on household asset accumulation draws a sharp distinction between "short-run" precautionary motives to buffer consumption from annual income shocks, and "long-run" life cycle considerations under income certainty. However, estimates of shock persistence imply considerable career uncertainty. We study long-run precautionary motives for life-cycle wealth accumulation and portfolios allowing for uncertain returns, incomes, and lifespan. We separate the effects of various factors on mean and median asset holdings, including education, risk aversion, household heterogeneity, bequests, impatience, variance and serial correlation of income shocks. Numerical solutions are compared with data from the 1992 Survey of Consumer Finances.

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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Finance with number 9604001.

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Length: 39 pages
Date of creation: 19 Apr 1996
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpfi:9604001

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Related research
Keywords: precautionary saving; income risk; CCAPM; life-cycle models;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy

References listed on IDEAS
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