Title
Perceptions of Mortality Risk: Implications for Annuities
Document Type
Working Paper
Date of this Version
1-1-2003
Abstract
This chapter examines how people view and manage mortality risks in retirement. While the chances of dying are small in any given retirement year, the financial consequences of untimely (early or late) death can be important. Consumers attempting to incorporate mortality risks into their retirement strategy are often told to use life expectancy estimates, even though life expectancy is an inadequate and often inappropriate planning concept. Moreover, consumers are usually invited to use the same approach to post-retirement retirement planning as pre-retirement financial planning, which undermines the importance of mortality risk and the role of products such as income annuities that provide protection against such risk. Recent research investigating the perception and management of various retirement risks, has important implications for annuity providers.
Working Paper Number
WP2003-20
Copyright/Permission Statement
©2003 Pension Research Council of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. All Rights Reserved
Date Posted: 04 September 2019
Comments
The published version of this Working Paper may be found in the 2004 publication: Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Finance.