Neoclassical economics assumes that provision for the future is simply a matter of the will to save enough of one’s current income. However, saving requires the availability of a secure instrument. Historically, the availability of such instruments has always been a problem. The social...

We analyse life-cycle saving decisions when households use simple heuristics, or rules of thumb, rather than solve the underlying intertemporal optimization problem. We simulate life-cycle saving decisions using three simple rules and compute utility losses relative to the solution of the...