Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Series: Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers
Creation-Date: 2006-04-06
Number: 06-038/1
Author-Name: Douglas A. Hershey
Author-Email: douglas.hershey@okstate.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Oklahoma State University
Author-Name: Kène Henkens
Author-Email: henkens@nidi.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, The Hague
Author-Name: Hendrik P. van Dalen
Author-Email: vandalen@few.eur.nl
Author-Workplace-Name: Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
Title: Mapping the Minds of Retirement Planners
Abstract: This study explored the psychological mechanisms that underlie the retirement planning and saving tendencies of Dutch and American workers. Participants were 988 Dutch and 429 Americans, 25-64 years of age. Analyses were designed to: (a) examine the extent to which structural variables were related to planning tendencies, and (b) develop culture-specific path analysis models to identify the mechanisms that underlie perceived financial preparedness for retirement. Findings revealed striking differences across the Netherlands and the United States not only among structural variables predictive of key psychological and retirement planning constructs, but also in the robustness of the path models. These findings suggest that policy analysts should take into account both individual and cultural differences in the psychological predispositions of workers when considering pension reforms that stress individual responsibility for planning and saving.
Classification-JEL: D14; D91; J26; P52
Keywords: retirement; pensions; financial planning; psychology; saving; uncertainty
File-Url: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/06038.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 160704 bytes
Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20060038