Baby Boomer Retirement Security: The Roles of Planning, Financial Literacy, and Housing Wealth

Annamaria Lusardi () and Olivia Mitchell

No 54, CeRP Working Papers from Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy)

Abstract: We compare wealth holdings across two cohorts of the Health and Retirement Study: the early Baby Boomers in 2004, and individuals in the same age group in 1992. Levels and patterns of total net worth have changed relatively little over time, though Boomers rely more on housing equity than their predecessors. Most important, planners in both cohorts arrive close to retirement with much higher wealth levels and display higher financial literacy than non-planners. Instrumental variables estimates show that planning behavior can explain the differences in savings and why some people arrive close to retirement with very little or no wealth.

Keywords: Wealth holdings; housing wealth; lack of planning; literacy; cohort (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 E21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2006-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-mac and nep-ure
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (43)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Baby Boomer retirement security: The roles of planning, financial literacy, and housing wealth (2007)
Working Paper: Baby Boomer Retirement Security: The Roles of Planning, Financial Literacy, and Housing Wealth (2006)
Working Paper: Baby Boomer Retirement Security: the Roles of Planning, Financial Literacy, and Housing Wealth (2006)
Working Paper: Baby boomer retirement security: The roles of planning, financial literacy, and Housing wealth (2006)
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