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Savings after Retirement: A Survey

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  • Eric French
  • John Bailey Jones
  • Mariacristina De Nardi

Abstract

Retired U.S. households, especially those with high income, decumulate their assets more slowly than implied by the basic life cycle model. The observed patterns of out-of-pocket medical expenses, which rise quickly with age and income during retirement, and longevity, which also rises with income, can explain a significant portion of U.S. retirement saving. However, more work is needed to disentangle these precautionary motives from other motives, such as the desire to leave bequests.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric French & John Bailey Jones & Mariacristina De Nardi, 2016. "Savings after Retirement: A Survey," Chicago Fed Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhle:00044
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Elaine Kelly & Eric French & Jeremy McCauley & John Bailey Jones, 2018. "End-of-Life Medical Expenses," Working Paper 18-18, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, revised 04 Dec 2018.
    2. John Laitner & Dan Silverman & Dmitriy Stolyarov, 2018. "The Role of Annuitized Wealth in Post-retirement Behavior," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 71-117, July.
    3. Niimi, Yoko & Horioka, Charles Yuji, 2019. "The wealth decumulation behavior of the retired elderly in Japan: The relative importance of precautionary saving and bequest motives," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 52-63.
    4. Gilad Sorek & Bharat Diwakar, 2017. "Weak Scale Effects in Overlapping Generations Economy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(2), pages 962-969.
    5. Keiko MURATA, "undated". "Dissaving by the elderly in Japan: Empirical evidence from survey data," ESRI Discussion paper series 346, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    6. de Bresser, Jochem, 2019. "Measuring subjective survival expectations – Do response scales matter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 136-156.
    7. Jones, John Bailey & Li, Yue, 2018. "The effects of collecting income taxes on Social Security benefits," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 128-145.
    8. Michelle Maroto, 2018. "Saving, Sharing, or Spending? The Wealth Consequences of Raising Children," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(6), pages 2257-2282, December.
    9. Ye Jin Heo, 2018. "Population aging and housing prices: who are we calling old?," NBP Working Papers 288, Narodowy Bank Polski, Economic Research Department.
    10. James M. Poterba & Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 2015. "What Determines End-of-Life Assets? A Retrospective View," NBER Chapters, in: Insights in the Economics of Aging, pages 127-157, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    retirement; life saving; bequest; Income;

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

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