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How Much Should Americans Be Saving for Retirement?

Author

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  • B. Douglas Bernheim

Abstract

How much should Americans save prior to retirement? Given Social Security's shaky financial condition, this is a critical question for baby boomers. A financial planning program-ESPlanner-is applied to data from the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS) to consider the amount that households approaching retirement should save.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • B. Douglas Bernheim, 2000. "How Much Should Americans Be Saving for Retirement?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(2), pages 288-292, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:90:y:2000:i:2:p:288-292
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.90.2.288
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    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.90.2.288
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alan J. Auerbach & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1985. "Life Insurance of the Elderly: Adequacy and Determinants," NBER Working Papers 1737, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Olivia S. Mitchell & James F. Moore, "undated". "Retirement Wealth Accumulation and Decumulation: New Developments and Outstanding Opportunities," Pension Research Council Working Papers 97-8, Wharton School Pension Research Council, University of Pennsylvania.
    3. B. Douglas Bernheim & Lorenzo Forni & Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff, 1999. "The Adequacy of Life Insurance: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Survey," NBER Working Papers 7372, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Nathan S. Balke & Robert J. Gordon, 1986. "The Estimation of Prewar GNP Volatility, 1869-1938," NBER Working Papers 1999, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jagadeesh Gokhale & Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Mark J. Warshawsky, 2001. "Life-cycle saving, limits on contributions to DC pension plans, and lifetime tax benefits," Working Papers (Old Series) 0102, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    2. Jonathan Skinner, 2007. "Are You Sure You're Saving Enough for Retirement?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 59-80, Summer.
    3. Hui Shan, 2011. "Reversing the Trend: The Recent Expansion of the Reverse Mortgage Market," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 39(4), pages 743-768, December.
    4. Barry Z. Cynamon & Steven M. Fazzari, 2013. "Inequality and Household Finance during the Consumer Age," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_752, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Binswanger, Johannes & Schunk, Daniel, 2012. "What is an adequate standard of living during Retirement?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(2), pages 203-222, April.
    6. Grant Scobie & John Gibson & Trinh Le, 2004. "Saving for Retirement: New Evidence for New Zealand," Treasury Working Paper Series 04/12, New Zealand Treasury.
    7. Partha Deb & William T. Gallo & Padmaja Ayyagari & Jason M. Fletcher & Jody L. Sindelar, 2009. "Job Loss: Eat, drink and try to be merry?," NBER Working Papers 15122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Todd Sinai & Nicholas S. Souleles, 2007. "Net Worth and Housing Equity in Retirement," NBER Working Papers 13693, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Gennadi Kazakevitch & Luc Borrowman, 2009. "Housing affordability: Proper Measurement for Informed Policy Making," Monash Economics Working Papers 08-09, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    10. Deb, Partha & Gallo, William T. & Ayyagari, Padmaja & Fletcher, Jason M. & Sindelar, Jody L., 2011. "The effect of job loss on overweight and drinking," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 317-327, March.
    11. Aparna Gupta & Zhisheng Li, 2013. "Optimal Annuity Purchase Decisions Under Uncertain Lifetime," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 447-459, December.
    12. Joshua Woodruff & William B. Haskell & Alejandro Toriello, 2016. "Optimized Financial Systems Helps Customers Meet Their Personal Finance Goals with Optimization," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 46(4), pages 345-359, August.
    13. Sogunro Ashim Babatunde & Adeleke Ismaila Adedeji & Ayorinde Richard Olusegun, 2019. "An assessment of adequacy of pre-retirement savings for sustainable retirement income under the Nigerian 2014 pension scheme," Journal of Economics and Management, Sciendo, vol. 35(1), pages 150-171, March.
    14. Jonathan Skinner, 2007. "Are You Sure You're Saving Enough for Retirement?," NBER Working Papers 12981, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Andrew Caplin & John Leahy, 2010. "Economic Theory and the World of Practice: A Celebration of the ( S , s ) Model," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(1), pages 183-202, Winter.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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