Wealth Distribution and Retirement Preparation Among Early Savers

52 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2020

See all articles by Alice Henriques Volz

Alice Henriques Volz

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Lindsay Jacobs

University of Wisconsin - Madison - La Follette School of Public Affairs

Elizabeth Llanes

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; University of Wisconsin - Madison

Kevin B. Moore

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Jeffrey P. Thompson

New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: February, 2020

Abstract

This paper develops a new combined-wealth measure by augmenting data on net worth from the Survey of Consumer Finances with estimates of defined benefit (DB) pension and expected Social Security wealth. We use this concept to explore retirement preparation among two groups of households in pre-retirement years (aged 40 through 49 and 50 through 59), and to explore the concentration of wealth. We find evidence of moderate, but rising, shortfalls in retirement preparation. We also show that including DB pension and Social Security wealth results in markedly lower measures of wealth concentration, and it slightly moderates trends toward a higher concentration over time.

Keywords: retirement adequacy, wealth inequality, Social Security

JEL Classification: D31, D63, H55, I32

Suggested Citation

Henriques Volz, Alice and Jacobs, Lindsay and Llanes, Elizabeth and Moore, Kevin B. and Thompson, Jeffrey P., Wealth Distribution and Retirement Preparation Among Early Savers (February, 2020). FRB of Boston Working Paper No. 20-4, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3634944 or http://dx.doi.org/10.29412/res.wp.2020.04

Alice Henriques Volz (Contact Author)

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20551
United States

Lindsay Jacobs

University of Wisconsin - Madison - La Follette School of Public Affairs ( email )

1225 Observatory Drive
Madison, WI 53705
United States

Elizabeth Llanes

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20551
United States

University of Wisconsin - Madison ( email )

716 Langdon Street
Madison, WI 53706-1481
United States

Kevin B. Moore

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ( email )

20th Street and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20551
United States

Jeffrey P. Thompson

New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston ( email )

600 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA 02210
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://www.bostonfed.org/people/bank/jeffrey-p-thompson.aspx

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