Money Illusion in Retirement Savings with a Minimum Guarantee

Abstract

We investigate the impact of money illusion on the investment strategy and retirement outcomes of pre-retirees. Money illusion refers to the tendency of individuals to overlook the effects of inflation and focus on nominal rather than real terms. We solve and compare the optimal investment strategies for a pre-retiree who exhibits money illusion and aims to maximize the expected power utility of wealth at retirement, subject to a minimum guarantee constraint. While money illusion leads to welfare losses, implementing a minimum guarantee helps suppress these losses. However, guarantee constraints set under money illusion are ineffective in meeting inflation-adjusted constraints. Our findings emphasize the significant impact of money illusion on pre-retirees’ investment strategy and retirement outcomes in the form of utility loss and the risk of falling short of the minimum guarantee.

Keywords: Inflation, Asset allocation, Constrained optimization, Retirement outcomes, Money Illusion