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. |