TY - JOUR T1 - The Mismatch Between Life Insurance Holdings and Financial Vulnerabilities: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study JF - American Economic Review Y1 - 2003 A1 - Bernheim, B. Douglas A1 - Forni, Lorenzo A1 - Gokhale, Jagadeesh A1 - Laurence J. Kotlikoff KW - Insurance KW - Net Worth and Assets AB - This study examines life insurance holdings and financial vulnerabilities among couples approaching retirement age. Two separate concerns motivate our analysis. First, there are reasons to suspect that life insurance coverage may be poorly correlated with underlying financial vulnerabilities. A well-known insurance industry adage holds that life insurance is “sold and not bought.” Alternatively, households may purchase long-term policies relatively early in life, and subsequently fail to adjust coverage appropriately because of inertia and/or other psychological considerations. Second, households that purchase little or no life insurance may leave either or both spouses at risk of serious financial consequences PB - 93 VL - 93 IS - 1 N1 - RDA 1999-006 U4 - Life Insurance/Widowhood ER - TY - JOUR T1 - How Much Should Americans Be Saving for Retirement? JF - American Economic Review Y1 - 2000 A1 - Bernheim, B. Douglas A1 - Forni, Lorenzo A1 - Gokhale, Jagadeesh A1 - Laurence J. Kotlikoff KW - Demographics KW - Net Worth and Assets KW - Retirement Planning and Satisfaction AB - Deciding if HRS households are saving too much or too little cannot be determined from the data alone. However, by applying the ESPlanner to the data, the rate at which American households should be saving as they approach retirement can be determined. Households that are currently saving under the assumption that Social Security benefits will be paid in full are saving far too little. For all households besides the poorest ones in the sample, median recommended saving rates are fairly high because of the risk of major cuts in Social Security benefits. PB - 90 VL - 90 IS - 2 U4 - Retirement Planning/Economic Status/Basic Demographics ER -