This paper presents findings from neuroscience, neuro-finance, neuro-economics, behavioral finance, and behavioral economics in the context of a two-system model of human decision-making, labeled as the “rider” and the “elephant”. The rational “rider” system is characterized by...

How do renters approaching retirement respond to their absence of housing equity? Traditional life cycle accumulation theory suggests compensation by increased investment in other asset classes. Behavioral “mental accounting” suggests that there may be no affect on investment in other asset...

This paper compares pre-death charitable testamentary expectations with post-death distributions for deceased panel members in the 1995-2006 Health and Retirement Study. Most respondents who reported having a charitable estate plan in the survey wave immediately prior to their death ultimately...

Changing financial advisors during an advisor-intermediated stock-market game was more likely during periods of relative underperformance. Immediately prior to changing advisors, brain activation was greater in areas associated with error detection (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex) and number...

Previous research has studied the characteristics associated with the presence and amount of charitable giving. However, few of these studies have explored the relationship between financial planning horizon and philanthropic donations, especially large donations. Using cross-sectional and...

Recent studies have demonstrated that individuals' financial planning horizons significantly impact their economic decisions, such as saving propensities, credit card usage behaviors, investment choices, retirement decisions, as well as estate planning engagements. Motivated by the profound...

This study uses the 2014 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to examine the predictors of End of Life (EOL) planning among adults age 50 and over and the integration between end of life (EOL) financial and EOL health planning, and the association of financial planning time horizon with EOL...

The propensity for older adults to have estate planning documents has been declining noticeably in recent years, such that a majority of adults age 50 and over now have no will or trust documents. This study investigates factors associated with usage of will or trust documents. After reviewing...