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Optimal Life-Cycle Portfolios for Heterogeneous Workers

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  • Fabio C. Bagliano
  • Carolina Fugazza
  • Giovanna Nicodano

Abstract

Household portfolios include risky bonds, beyond stocks, and respond to permanent labor income shocks. This article brings these features into a life-cycle setting, and shows that optimal stock investment is constant or increasing in age before retirement for realistic parameter combinations. The driver of such inversion in the life-cycle profile is the resolution of uncertainty regarding social security pension, which increases the investor’s risk appetite. This occurs if a small positive contemporaneous correlation between permanent labor income shocks and stock returns is matched by a realistically high degree of risk aversion. Absent this combination, the typical downward-sloping profile obtains. Overlooking differences in optimal investment profiles across heterogeneous workers results in large welfare losses, in the order of 15–30% of lifetime consumption.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio C. Bagliano & Carolina Fugazza & Giovanna Nicodano, 2014. "Optimal Life-Cycle Portfolios for Heterogeneous Workers," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 18(6), pages 2283-2323.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:revfin:v:18:y:2014:i:6:p:2283-2323.
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    2. Fabio C. Bagliano & Raffaele Corvino & Carolina Fugazza & Giovanna Nicodano, 2018. "Hedging Labor Income Risk over the Life-Cycle," Working papers 058, Department of Economics and Statistics (Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Sociali e Matematico-Statistiche), University of Torino.
    3. Fabio C. Bagliano & Carolina Fugazza & Giovanna Nicodano, 2017. "A Life-Cycle Model with Unemployment Traps," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 514, Collegio Carlo Alberto, revised 2019.
    4. Bagliano, Fabio C. & Fugazza, Carolina & Nicodano, Giovanna, 2019. "Life-cycle portfolios, unemployment and human capital loss," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 325-340.
    5. Mao, Mike Qinghao & Wong, Ching Hin, 2022. "Managerial commitment and heterogeneity in target-date funds," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 1-19.
    6. Bagliano, Fabio C. & Fugazza, Carolina & Nicodano, Giovanna, 2021. "Life-cycle welfare losses from rules-of-thumb asset allocation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Kees de Van & Daniele Fano & Herialt Mens & Giovanna Nicodano, 2014. "A Reporting Standard for Defined Contribution Pension Plans," CeRP Working Papers 143, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).
    8. Tsai, Hui-Ju & Wu, Yangru, 2014. "Optimal portfolio choice for investors with industry-specific labor income risks," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 429-436.
    9. Mao, Mike Qinghao & Wong, Ching Hin, 2022. "Why have target-date funds performed better in the COVID-19 selloff than the 2008 selloff?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    10. Ashok Thomas & Luca Spataro, 2018. "Financial Literacy, Human Capital and Stock Market Participation in Europe," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 532-550, December.
    11. Munk, Claus, 2020. "A mean-variance benchmark for household portfolios over the life cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    12. Ashtiani, Amin Zokaei & Rieger, Marc Oliver & Stutz, David, 2021. "Nudging against panic selling: Making use of the IKEA effect," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    13. Branger, Nicole & Larsen, Linda Sandris & Munk, Claus, 2019. "Hedging recessions," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-1.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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