Draft
Household Retirement Savings: Are Spouses Saving Together?
Feb 3, 2017
Improving Financial Decisionmaking
Through our Center for Financial and Economic Decisionmaking (CFED), RAND researchers study how individuals and families make financial decisions and examine how public policy can be leveraged to help improve financial stability.
Improving Financial Decisionmaking Related to Retirement
The decrease in defined benefit pension plans use, coupled with an increase in the life span, is shaping how individuals plan financially for their retirement. CFED researchers investigate how households save for retirement, invest their savings, and spend down their assets in retirement.
Building Financial Health amongst the Economically Vulnerable
CFED researchers design, implement, and evaluate interventions targeted at helping individuals build savings, improve credit, reduce debt, and strengthen financial literacy and capability.
Bringing Together Government Policymakers, Academia, and Industry
The RAND Behavioral Finance Forum is an annual conference and webinar series for federal government, academic, and industry leaders on behavioral finance topics such as retirement security, consumer financial protection, and financial advice.
Featured Research
Recent Publications
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Overcoming Compound Racial Inequity: Policies and Costs for Closing the Black-White Wealth Gap December 7, 2022
Americans have called for historic policy interventions to address the incessant racial wealth gap between Black and white households that has resulted from a history of lost income and lost opportunity, compounded over time. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors assess the sources of wealth disparity and analyze the potential impacts and trade-offs of four disparity-reducing wealth-allocation policies.
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Examining the Loss of Wealth and Downward Mobility of African Americans: A Review of Challenges for the Black Middle Class December 7, 2022
Despite post–Civil Rights era racial progress, middle-class African Americans continue to face more economic obstacles than white Americans. In this report, the author reviews research on the intergenerational downward mobility rates of middle-class African Americans; examines the impact of race, gender, and parental income on adult children's income; and discusses several factors that may contribute to the instability of the Black middle class.
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Accounting for Black-White Wealth Differences: A Stylized Model of Wealth Accumulation December 7, 2022
This report presents several iterations of a stylized model of wealth accumulation that reflect historical patterns in income and wealth shown in prior research. This presentation provides the necessary context to understand the wealth differences among all Americans and those factors, in particular, that contribute to Black-white wealth differences.
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Spending Trajectories After Age 65: Variation by Initial Wealth December 5, 2022
Effective financial planning for retirement requires information about the spending needs of older households, how those needs evolve with age, and their variation by economic resources. This report finds that spending, adjusted for inflation, declines from age 65 through the retirement years. Spending declines not just among those with low wealth but even among households in the upper fourth of the wealth distribution.
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Saving Regret and Procrastination November 23, 2022
Saving regret, or the wish in hindsight to have saved more earlier in life, is widespread in older populations. Little of the variation is explained by procrastination and psychological factors. Unemployment, health, and divorce are larger factors.
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Credit Building or Credit Crumbling? A Credit Builder Loan's Effects on Consumer Behavior and Market Efficiency in the United States September 29, 2022
We use a randomized encouragement design and predictive modeling to examine impacts of a credit-builder loan (CBL) on borrowers, providers, and credit market information.
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RAND HRS Longitudinal File 2018 (V2) Documentation: Includes 1992-2018 (Final Release) August 9, 2022
The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is a longitudinal household survey that facilitates research into different aspects of population aging in the United States. The RAND HRS Longitudinal File is a cleaned, easy-to-use, and streamlined data product containing information from the HRS, including variables on demographics, health and insurance, Social Security, pensions, family structure, retirement plans, expectations, and employment history.
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Pathways to Retirement Among Dual Earning Couples April 21, 2022
This paper examines the transition from full-time work to fully retired among dual earning couples, which we call joint retirement trajectories. We analyze 12 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to map out the distribution of potential pathways that couples undertake when retiring.
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Workplace financial wellbeing interventions and the mental health of young workers March 8, 2021
In this study we explore the likely and proven impact of workplace financial wellbeing interventions on the mental health of young workers, through analysis of Britain and Asia's Healthiest Workplace survey data and a literature review.
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Workplace financial wellbeing interventions for young workers: A review of the evidence and analysis of Britain's Healthiest Workplace (BHW) and Asia's Healthiest Workplace (AHW) surveys March 8, 2021
This study explores the impact of workplace financial wellbeing interventions (WFWI) on the mental health of young workers, through analysis of Britain and Asia's Healthiest Workplace survey data and a literature review. Findings suggest that WFWI are a potentially promising approach, but there is a pressing need for further evidence. Employees should consider implementing WFWI and we provide recommendations to support this process.
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How Did the Reintroduction of the Social Security Statement Change Workers' Expectations and Plans? March 3, 2021
This study fielded a survey in RAND's American Life Panel, coinciding with the partial reintroduction of the Social Security Statement. The findings indicate that regular mailings can play a role in shaping workers' retirement plans.
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Financial Literacy and Financial Decision-Making at Older Ages February 9, 2021
This paper examines how financial literacy is associated with three types of financial decisions pertinent to older individuals: adherence to timely credit card repayment, stock market participation, and risk diversification of household assets.