Saving Preferences After Retirement

By Jennifer Alonso-García (University of New South Wales (UNSW) – ARC Centre of Excellence in Population Ageing Research (CEPAR)), Hazel Bateman (UNSW – School of Actuarial Studies, Centre for Pensions and Superannuation), Johan Bonekamp (Tilburg University – Department of Econometrics & Operations Research), Arthur van Soest (Tilburg University) & Ralph Stevens (CPB Netherlands Bureau of Economic Policy Analysis; CEPAR)

We investigate the importance of rational and psychological motives for choosing a saving and consumption trajectory after retirement. Using an online experimental survey, we elicit the impact on saving motives of alternative retirement drawdown design, comprising different combinations of annuity income and wealth, and major life events such as becoming frail or losing a spouse. We find that individuals’ saving motives are revised where they expect major life events such as a health shock or losing a spouse but are less responsive to variation in ‘experimental’ retirement drawdown arrangements, where they remain aligned to prevailing institutional arrangements.

Source: SSRN