IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v34y2013i1p64-76.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do People Save or Spend Their Inheritances? Understanding What Happens to Inherited Wealth

Author

Listed:
  • Jay Zagorsky

Abstract

Almost $4 trillion dollars of wealth is currently held by families with a life expectancy of less than 10 years. When that wealth is inherited, will it be retained or spent quickly? Results from the NLSY79, a longitudinal survey covering people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s suggest roughly half of all money inherited is saved and the other half spent or lost investing. These spending and saving decisions are made by a concentrated group with about one-fifth of all families getting an inheritance and about one-seventh expecting to receive an inheritance. Suggestions to increase savings from inheritances are discussed. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Jay Zagorsky, 2013. "Do People Save or Spend Their Inheritances? Understanding What Happens to Inherited Wealth," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 64-76, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:34:y:2013:i:1:p:64-76
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-012-9299-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10834-012-9299-y
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-012-9299-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Martin Browning & Annamaria Lusardi, 1996. "Household Saving: Micro Theories and Micro Facts," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 1797-1855, December.
    2. Douglas Holtz-Eakin & David Joulfaian & Harvey S. Rosen, 1993. "The Carnegie Conjecture: Some Empirical Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(2), pages 413-435.
    3. Celia Hayhoe & Michelle Stevenson, 2007. "Financial Attitudes and Inter vivos Resource Transfers from Older Parents to Adult Children," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 123-135, March.
    4. Kotlikoff, Laurence J & Summers, Lawrence H, 1981. "The Role of Intergenerational Transfers in Aggregate Capital Accumulation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 706-732, August.
    5. Kwok-bun Chan, 2010. "Father, Son, Wife, Husband: Philanthropy as Exchange and Balance," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 387-395, September.
    6. David Joulfaian, 2006. "Inheritance and Saving," NBER Working Papers 12569, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Arthur B. Kennickell & R. Louise Woodburn, 1999. "CONSISTENT WEIGHT DESIGN FOR THE 1989, 1992 AND 1995 SCFs, AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 45(2), pages 193-215, June.
    8. Hurd, Michael D, 1989. "Mortality Risk and Bequests," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 57(4), pages 779-813, July.
    9. Audrey Light & Kathleen McGarry, 2004. "Why Parents Play Favorites: Explanations for Unequal Bequests," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1669-1681, December.
    10. Michael Hurd & James P. Smith, 2002. "Expected Bequests and Their Distribution," NBER Working Papers 9142, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Gregory Ponthiere, 2011. "Mortality, Family and Lifestyles," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 175-190, June.
    12. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2001. "Evidence on Youth Employment, Earnings, and Parental Transfers in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(4), pages 795-822.
    13. Simon Davies, 2011. "What Motivates Gifts? Intra-Family Transfers in Rural Malawi," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 473-492, September.
    14. Dunn, Thomas A. & Phillips, John W., 1997. "The timing and division of parental transfers to children," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 135-137, February.
    15. J. Collins, 2007. "Exploring the Design of Financial Counseling for Mortgage Borrowers in Default," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 207-226, June.
    16. Tansel Yilmazer, 2008. "Saving for Children’s College Education: An Empirical Analysis of the Trade-off Between the Quality and Quantity of Children," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 307-324, June.
    17. Jere R. Behrman & Mark R. Rosenzweig, 2004. "Parental Allocations to Children: New Evidence on Bequest Differences among Siblings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(2), pages 637-640, May.
    18. Mark L. Hoekstra & Scott Hankins & Paige Marta Skiba, 2008. "The Ticket to Easy Street? The Financial Consequences of Winning the Lottery," Working Paper 344, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Mar 2010.
    19. Modigliani, Franco, 1986. "Life Cycle, Individual Thrift, and the Wealth of Nations," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(3), pages 297-313, June.
    20. Casey B. Mulligan, 1999. "Galton versus the Human Capital Approach to Inheritance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 184-224, December.
    21. David Joulfaian & Mark O. Wilhelm, 1994. "Inheritance and Labor Supply," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(4), pages 1205-1234.
    22. Jianakoplos, Nancy A. & Menchik, Paul L. & Irvine, F. Owen, 1996. "Saving behavior of older households: Rate-of-return, precautionary and inheritance effects," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 111-120, January.
    23. Luc Arrondel & Andre Masson, 2001. "Family Transfers Involving Three Generations," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 103(3), pages 415-443, September.
    24. John Laitner, 2002. "Wealth Inequality and Altruistic Bequests," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 270-273, May.
    25. Clotfelter, Charles T & Cook, Philip J, 1990. "On the Economics of State Lotteries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 105-119, Fall.
    26. Gardner, Jonathan & Oswald, Andrew J., 2007. "Money and mental wellbeing: A longitudinal study of medium-sized lottery wins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 49-60, January.
    27. R Alessie & A Kapteyn, 2001. "New data for understanding saving," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 17(1), pages 55-69, Spring.
    28. Andreas Waldkirch & Serena Ng & Donald Cox, 2004. "Intergenerational Linkages in Consumption Behavior," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(2).
    29. Guido W. Imbens & Donald B. Rubin & Bruce I. Sacerdote, 2001. "Estimating the Effect of Unearned Income on Labor Earnings, Savings, and Consumption: Evidence from a Survey of Lottery Players," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 778-794, September.
    30. Sheri Worthy & Jeffrey Jonkman & Lynn Blinn-Pike, 2010. "Sensation-Seeking, Risk-Taking, and Problematic Financial Behaviors of College Students," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 161-170, June.
    31. Elena Gouskova & Ngina Chiteji & Frank Stafford, 2010. "Pension Participation: Do Parents Transmit Time Preference?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 138-150, June.
    32. Diann Moorman & Steven Garasky, 2008. "Consumer Debt Repayment Behavior as a Precursor to Bankruptcy," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 219-233, June.
    33. repec:bla:scandj:v:103:y:2001:i:3:p:415-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    34. repec:bla:revinw:v:45:y:1999:i:2:p:135-56 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Korom, Philipp, 2016. "Inherited advantage: The importance of inheritance for private wealth accumulation in Europe," MPIfG Discussion Paper 16/11, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    2. Che-cheong Poon & Tai-Yuen Hon, 2015. "Household Savings in Hong Kong: A Statistical Analysis," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 353-368, September.
    3. Heather H. Kelley & Ashley B. LeBaron & E. Jeffrey Hill, 2021. "Family Matters: Decade Review from Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 20-33, July.
    4. Gustavo A. Caballero, 2017. "Responsibility or autonomy: children and the probability of self-employment in the USA," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 493-512, August.
    5. Jeppe Druedahl & Alessandro Martinello, 2022. "Long-Run Saving Dynamics: Evidence from Unexpected Inheritances," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1079-1095, December.
    6. Jonathan Spiteri & Philip Brockdorff, 2023. "Household Wealth and Inheritance Transfers: Evidence from the Euro Area," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 619-633, September.
    7. Newall, Philip W.S. & Peacey, Mike W., 2021. "Pension behavior and policy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    8. John Edward Sabelhaus & Jeffrey P. Thompson, 2023. "The Limited Role of Intergenerational Transfers for Understanding Racial Wealth Disparities," Current Policy Perspectives 95748, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    9. Dale R. DeBoer & Edward C. Hoang, 2017. "Inheritances and Bequest Planning: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 45-56, March.
    10. , 2021. "Racial Wealth Disparities: Reconsidering the Roles of Human Capital and Inheritance," Working Papers 22-3, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marta Melguizo Garde, 2007. "La motivación de las transmisiones lucrativas entre generaciones de una familia: modelos teóricos y evidencia empírica," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 181(2), pages 81-118, June.
    2. Wojciech Kopczuk, 2012. "Taxation of Intergenerational Transfers and Wealth," NBER Working Papers 18584, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Altonji Joseph G & Villanueva Ernesto, 2007. "The Marginal Propensity to Spend on Adult Children," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-52, February.
    4. John Laitner & Amanda Sonnega, 2010. "Intergenerational Transfers in the Health and Retirement Study Data," Working Papers wp238, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    5. Malo, Miguel Á. & Sciulli, Dario, 2023. "Expected wealth transfers and consumption across the wealth distribution in Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Elinder Mikael & Erixson Oscar & Ohlsson Henry, 2012. "The Impact of Inheritances on Heirs' Labor and Capital Income," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-37, December.
    7. Peter Mooslechner & Martin Sch rz & Pirmin Fessler, 2008. "How Inheritances Relate to Wealth Distribution? Theoretical Reasoning and Empirical Evidence on the Basis of LWS Data," LWS Working papers 6, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    8. Andreas Eder, 2016. "The impact of inheritances on the retirement behavior of older Europeans," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 43(2), pages 299-331, May.
    9. Arrondel, Luc & Masson, Andre, 2006. "Altruism, exchange or indirect reciprocity: what do the data on family transfers show?," Handbook on the Economics of Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism, in: S. Kolm & Jean Mercier Ythier (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Giving, Altruism and Reciprocity, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 14, pages 971-1053, Elsevier.
    10. Elinder, Mikael & Erixson, Oscar & Escobar, Sebastian & Ohlsson, Henry, 2014. "Estates, bequests, and inheritances in Sweden - A look into the Belinda databases," Working Paper Series, Center for Fiscal Studies 2014:14, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    11. Laitner, John & Ohlsson, Henry, 2001. "Bequest motives: a comparison of Sweden and the United States," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 205-236, January.
    12. Jeffrey R. Brown & Courtney C. Coile & Scott J. Weisbenner, 2010. "The Effect of Inheritance Receipt on Retirement," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(2), pages 425-434, May.
    13. Mauro Baranzini, 2005. "Modigliani's life-cycle theory of savings fifty years later," Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 58(233-234), pages 109-172.
    14. Koeniger, Winfried & Zanella, Carlo, 2022. "Opportunity and inequality across generations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    15. Bertrand Garbinti & Simon Georges-Kot, 2019. "On the Retirement Effect of Inheritance: Heterogeneity and the Role of Risk Aversion," Working papers 707, Banque de France.
    16. Mauro Baranzini, 2005. "Modigliani's life-cycle theory of savings fifty years later," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 58(233-234), pages 109-172.
    17. Erlend E. Bø & Elin Halvorsen & Thor O. Thoresen, 2019. "Heterogeneity of the Carnegie Effect," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(3), pages 726-759.
    18. Eduard Suari-Andreu, 2023. "Labour supply, retirement, and consumption responses of older Europeans to inheritance receipt," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 33-75, January.
    19. Jordi Caballé, 2016. "Intergenerational mobility: measurement and the role of borrowing constraints and inherited tastes," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 393-420, November.
    20. Luigi, Cannnari & Giovanni, D'Alessio, 2008. "Intergenerational Transfers in Italy," MPRA Paper 15111, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bequest; Inheritance; Saving; Wealth;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:34:y:2013:i:1:p:64-76. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.