A Fistful of Dollars - Financial Incentives, Peer Information and Retirement Savings

Rob Bauer; Inka Eberhardt; Paul  Smeets

doi:10.1093/rfs/hhab088

A Fistful of Dollars - Financial Incentives, Peer Information and Retirement Savings

Rob Bauer, Inka Eberhardt, Paul Smeets^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

To understand what motivates individuals to look at their pension situation and make adequate savings decisions, we conduct two field experiments with 226,946 and 257,433 pension fund participants. We find peer-information statements do not increase the rate at which individuals check their pension information, but lottery-type financial incentives do. Offering a few large prizes rather than many small prizes is most effective. However, the uptake of pension information does not lead to improved pension knowledge nor to increased self-reported savings three weeks after our intervention.

Original language	English
Article number	hhab088
Pages (from-to)	2981-3020
Number of pages	40
Journal	Review of Financial Studies
Volume	35
Issue number	6
Early online date	20 Aug 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhab088
Publication status	Published - 19 May 2022

JEL classifications

d83 - "Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief"
c93 - Field Experiments

Keywords

BELIEF
COMMUNICATION
FIELD EXPERIMENTS
FINANCIAL LITERACY
INFORMATION & KNOWLEDGE
INSURANCE
LEARNING
SEARCH
UNAWARENESS
G51
G53
NORMS
EDUCATION
PLAN
DECISIONS
SECURITY
LITERACY
C93
D83

Access to Document

10.1093/rfs/hhab088Licence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{49302a8c19914a0cb22d35ac33129d58,

title = "A Fistful of Dollars - Financial Incentives, Peer Information and Retirement Savings",

abstract = "To understand what motivates individuals to look at their pension situation and make adequate savings decisions, we conduct two field experiments with 226,946 and 257,433 pension fund participants. We find peer-information statements do not increase the rate at which individuals check their pension information, but lottery-type financial incentives do. Offering a few large prizes rather than many small prizes is most effective. However, the uptake of pension information does not lead to improved pension knowledge nor to increased self-reported savings three weeks after our intervention.",

keywords = "BELIEF, COMMUNICATION, FIELD EXPERIMENTS, FINANCIAL LITERACY, INFORMATION & KNOWLEDGE, INSURANCE, LEARNING, SEARCH, UNAWARENESS, G51, G53, NORMS, EDUCATION, PLAN, DECISIONS, SECURITY, LITERACY, C93, D83",

author = "Rob Bauer and Inka Eberhardt and Paul Smeets",

note = "data source: field experiment, data will be accessible ",

year = "2022",

month = may,

day = "19",

doi = "10.1093/rfs/hhab088",

language = "English",

volume = "35",

pages = "2981--3020",

journal = "Review of Financial Studies",

issn = "0893-9454",

publisher = "Oxford University Press",

number = "6",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Fistful of Dollars - Financial Incentives, Peer Information and Retirement Savings

AU - Bauer, Rob

AU - Eberhardt, Inka

AU - Smeets, Paul

N1 - data source: field experiment, data will be accessible

PY - 2022/5/19

Y1 - 2022/5/19

N2 - To understand what motivates individuals to look at their pension situation and make adequate savings decisions, we conduct two field experiments with 226,946 and 257,433 pension fund participants. We find peer-information statements do not increase the rate at which individuals check their pension information, but lottery-type financial incentives do. Offering a few large prizes rather than many small prizes is most effective. However, the uptake of pension information does not lead to improved pension knowledge nor to increased self-reported savings three weeks after our intervention.

AB - To understand what motivates individuals to look at their pension situation and make adequate savings decisions, we conduct two field experiments with 226,946 and 257,433 pension fund participants. We find peer-information statements do not increase the rate at which individuals check their pension information, but lottery-type financial incentives do. Offering a few large prizes rather than many small prizes is most effective. However, the uptake of pension information does not lead to improved pension knowledge nor to increased self-reported savings three weeks after our intervention.

KW - BELIEF

KW - COMMUNICATION

KW - FIELD EXPERIMENTS

KW - FINANCIAL LITERACY

KW - INFORMATION & KNOWLEDGE

KW - INSURANCE

KW - LEARNING

KW - SEARCH

KW - UNAWARENESS

KW - G51

KW - G53

KW - NORMS

KW - EDUCATION

KW - PLAN

KW - DECISIONS

KW - SECURITY

KW - LITERACY

KW - C93

KW - D83

U2 - 10.1093/rfs/hhab088

DO - 10.1093/rfs/hhab088

M3 - Article

SN - 0893-9454

VL - 35

SP - 2981

EP - 3020

JO - Review of Financial Studies

JF - Review of Financial Studies

IS - 6

M1 - hhab088

ER -