Variable	Description
FAZ Survey
Planned retirement age	Age in years when nonretired participants plan to retire (“At what age do you plan to retire?”). Nonretirees only.
Actual retirement age	Age in years when retired participants did retire (“At what age did you retire?”). Retirees only.
Full retirement age	Full retirement age according to the German social security system based on the birth year of participants.
Retirement regret	Indicator that equals one if participants felt they retired too early (“If you were to retire again, would you retire earlier, later, or at the same age?”). Retirees only.
Inconsistency indicator	Refers to the time preference question as displayed in Figure 1. Indicator equals one if a participant makes at least one time-inconsistent choice in the direction of hyperbolic discounting.
Number inconsistent answers	Refers to the time preference question as displayed in Figure 1. Count of the number of inconsistent choices in the direction of hyperbolic discounting (0–3).
Impatience	Agreement on a seven-point Likert scale (1–7) with the statement “I am an impatient person.”
Age	Current age of participants in years.
Gender	Indicator that equals one if a participant is male.
Income	Self-reported monthly net income. Nonretirees only.
Retirement benefits	Retirement income from social and private insurance. Retirees only.
Satisfaction with benefits	Agreement on a seven-point Likert scale (1–7) with the statement “I am satisfied with my monthly retirement benefits.”
Number of children	Number of participant’s children.
Education	Variable that takes a value of two for a university degree or higher, a value of one for a high school degree (German Abitur), and a value of zero for a lower or no degree.
Married	Indicator that equals one if a participant is married.
Risk aversion	Agreement on a seven-point Likert scale (1–7) with the statement “I am a risk-averse person.”
Loss aversion	Agreement on a seven-point Likert scale (1–7) with the statement “I am very afraid of losses.”
Financial literacy	Number of correct responses to six financial literacy questions (see Online Appendix A).
Subjective life expectancy	Self-reported life expectancy in years of age.
Private pension insurance	Indicator if participant owns private pension insurance.
SAVE Survey
Planned retirement age	Age in years when nonretired participants plan to retire (“At what age do you plan to retire?”). Nonretirees only.
Actual retirement age	Age in years when retired participants did retire (“At what year did you enter retirement?”). Retirees only.
Smoker	Indicator that equals one if a participant responds yes to the question “Do you smoke regularly?” at least once in the used rounds of the panel.
Overdraft	Overdraft measures the self-reported usage of the overdraft option provided by the participant’s bank. It ranges from one (never use overdraft) to four (more than 6 times per year).
Overdraft indicator	Indicator that equals one if participants use the overdraft option frequently (overdraft ≥ 3) at least once in the used rounds of the panel.
Age	Current age of participants in years.
Gender	Indicator that equals one if a participant is male.
Income	Self-reported monthly net income.
Number of children	Number of participant’s children.
Education	Variable that takes a value of two for a university degree or higher, a value of one for a high school degree (German Abitur), and a value of zero for a lower or no degree.
Married	Indicator that equals one if a participant is married.
Financial literacy	Number of correct responses to nine financial literacy questions (see Online Appendix B).
Subjective life expectancy	Self-reported life expectancy in years of age.
Private pension insurance	Indicator that equals one if a participant owns private pension insurance.
Health status	Self-assessed health status on a five-point scale (from very good (=5) to very bad (=1)).
Satisfaction with health	Self-reported satisfaction with own health on a ten-point scale (from completely satisfied (=10) to not at all satisfied (=0)).
Prolonged illness	Indicator that takes the value of one if a participant reports to have prolonged health problems, illnesses, or disabilities.