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Retirement puzzles: New evidence from personal finances

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  • Olafsson, Arna
  • Pagel, Michaela

Abstract

Using comprehensive transaction-level panel data, we document that individuals repay their consumer debt and save more after they retire. These findings are puzzling because, in principle, people should save more before, rather than after, the expected decrease in income upon retirement. We discuss several potential explanations for our findings, including reductions in work-related expenses and increases in medical health risks around retirement, which are the leading explanations of the so-called retirement-consumption and retirement-savings puzzles. We thereby inform the larger question of whether individuals save enough for retirement.

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  • Olafsson, Arna & Pagel, Michaela, 2024. "Retirement puzzles: New evidence from personal finances," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:234:y:2024:i:c:s0047272724000392
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105103
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retirement; Savings; Consumer debt;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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