Previous retirement adequacy studies have ignored expected retirement income stages. Ignoring retirement income stages results in biased estimations of retirement adequacy. This study analyzes retirement income stage theoretically and then empirically. Based on the 1995 to 2007 Survey of...

This study uses a combination of six Survey of Consumer Finances data sets to examine whether factors affecting credit delinquency differ by the racial/ethnic identity of households. Hispanic households are less likely than white households, and white households were less likely than African...

Assessment of risk tolerance is fundamental to proper asset allocation within a household portfolio. It is also a frequently misunderstood concept and difficult to measure practically. We discuss the relationship between risk aversion and portfolio recommendations based on an expected utility...

We examined the association between financial knowledge overconfidence and the perception of emergency fund needs using the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) dataset. Only 28% of respondents reported a perceived amount of emergency funds needed that would cover at least 3 months of...

We extend previous studies of retirement adequacy by testing the effect of financial sophistication on projected retirement adequacy. In an analysis of the 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) dataset, we found that only 42% of households are adequately prepared for retirement compared to 58%...

Little previous research on planned retirement ages has analyzed factors related to whether workers say they will never retire. This issue is important both in financial planning and in assessments of retirement adequacy. Using the 1995, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances...

The recession that started in December 2007 was longer than any since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Household incomes dropped and unemployment rates increased to over 9%. We investigate the proportion of households having financial obligations over 40% of pretax income (having a high...

The current study investigates the impact of substantial economic fluctuations on household portfolios and analyzes how the fluctuations influence households' propensities to meet the capital accumulation ratio threshold of 25%. The 1992 to 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances datasets were analyzed...

The optimal proportion of a household's investment portfolio that should be in risky assets such as stocks depends on what proportion of total wealth, including human wealth, the investment portfolio represents. This article estimates the total wealth of households in the U.S. Survey of Consumer...

The distinction between subjective and objective risk tolerance is illustrated by expected utility analyses of portfolios. Optimal portfolios were derived for one, 5, and 20 year investment horizons for 6 major financial asset categories. The important aspects of objective risk tolerance are the...