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Why Do Retired Households Draw Down Their Wealth So Slowly?

Author

Listed:
  • Eric French
  • John Bailey Jones
  • Rory McGee

Abstract

Retired households, especially those with high lifetime income, decumulate their wealth very slowly, and many die leaving large estates. The three leading explanations for the "retirement savings puzzle" are the desire to insure against uncertain lifespans and medical expenses, the desire to leave bequests to one's heirs, and the desire to remain in one's own home. We discuss the empirical strategies used to differentiate these motivations, most of which go beyond wealth to exploit additional features of the data. The literature suggests that all the motivations are present, but has yet to reach a consensus about their relative importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric French & John Bailey Jones & Rory McGee, 2023. "Why Do Retired Households Draw Down Their Wealth So Slowly?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 91-114, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:37:y:2023:i:4:p:91-114
    DOI: 10.1257/jep.37.4.91
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Disslbacher, Franziska & Rapp, Severin, 2024. "Leaving Legacies and Liabilities: The Distribution of Wealth at Death," SocArXiv z3wfv, Center for Open Science.
    2. Disslbacher, Franziska & Rapp, Severin, 2024. "Leaving Legacies and Liabilities: The Distribution of Wealth at Death," OSF Preprints y9xt3, Center for Open Science.
    3. repec:osf:osfxxx:y9xt3_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Huang, Wei & Lei, Xiaoyan & Zhang, Chunfeng, 2025. "Green retirement: The impact of retirement on carbon emissions through consumption and income dynamics," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 727-753.
    5. Yasutaka Ogawa & Jiro Yoshida, 2024. "Aging, Housing, and Macroeconomic Inefficiency," IMES Discussion Paper Series 24-E-04, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    6. Fella, Giulio & Blomhoff Holm, Martin & Pugh, Thomas M., 2024. "Saving after Retirement and Preferences for Residual Wealth," CEPR Discussion Papers 19233, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Pashchenko, Svetlana & Porapakkarm, Ponpoje, 2020. "Saving Motives over the Life-Cycle," MPRA Paper 100208, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. repec:osf:socarx:z3wfv_v1 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies

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