Table A2.
Description of Variables Included in this Analysis
| Variable name in analysis | Variable name in HRS | Variable description |
|---|---|---|
| Source: 2020 RAND HRS Fat File | ||
| Race/Ethicity: 4 groups | raracem, rahispan | Using the two variables about race and ethnicity, we constructed four dummy variables: 1) White, non-Hispanic adult equal to 1, zero otherwise; 2) Black non-Hispanic adult equal to 1, zero otherwise, 3) Hispanic adult equal to 1, zero otherwise, and 4) Other equal to 1, zero otherwise. We refer in paper to Whites to Whites non-Hispanics and Blacks to Blacks non-Hispanics for simplicity. |
| Female | ragender | We classify gender groups as men and women. We created a dummy variable Female equal 1, zero otherwise. |
| US born | rabplace | Dummy variable constructed as equal to 1 if born in US, zero otherwise. |
| Age | rage | Age of respondent (continuous variable). |
| Educational attainment: 4 groups | raeduc | Dummy variables constructed for 4 different groups of educational attainment: Less than Highschool, High school graduate, Some college, College grad and above. |
| Working status | rwork | Dummy variable equal to 1 if working for pay, equal to zero if otherwise. |
| Household income | hitot | Continuous variable constructed as Income in thousands (hittot/1000). |
| Receives social security | rassrecv | Dummy variable equal to 1 if someone in household receives social security benefits. |
| Prob. leave bequest $10,000 | rbeq10k | Probability of leaving a bequest of $10,000 or more (continuous variable with probabilities ranging from 0 to 100). |
| IRA/Keogh Acct. Balance | haira | Net value of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) and/or Keogh accounts in household (self, husband/wife/partner, continuous variable). |
| Stocks Acct. Balance | hastck | Net value of stocks, mutual funds and investment trusts in household (self, husband/wife/partner, continuous variable). |
| Checking Acct. Balance | hachck | Net value of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) and/or Keogh accounts in household (self, husband/wife/partner, continuous variable). |
| CD Acct. Balance | hacd | Value of checking, savings, or money market accounts in household (self, husband/wife/partner, continuous variable). |
| Finc. Plan. Hor.: 5 groups | rfinpln | Financial planning horizon dummy variables constructed for 5 financial planning horizons: 1) next few months, 2) next year, 3) next few years, 4) next 5–10 years, and 5) greater than 10 years. |
| PT. Extrovert | rlbext | Continuous variable from the big 5 personality traits, extroversion. |
| PT. Openness | rlbopen | Continuous variable from the big 5 personality traits, openness to experience. |
| PT. Conscien-tiousness | rlbcon5 | Continuous variable from the big 5 personality traits, conscientiousness (5 sub-items). |
| Sat. Health | rlbsathlth | Continuous variable for satisfaction with health. |
| Sat. Household Income | rlbsatinc | Continuous variable for satisfaction with total household income. |
| Sat. Present Finc. Situation | rlbsatfin | Continuous variable for satisfaction with present financial situation. |
| Sat. Life as a Whole | rlbsatwlf | Continuous variable for life satisfaction scale. |
| Source: 2020 HRS Core | ||
| Couple Household | RCOUPLE | We classify households as coupled households if married or partnered. |
| Spanish survey | RA012 | Language for survey, where Spanish survey dummy variable is equal to 1 if survey answered in Spanish, zero if answered in English. HRS survey is only available in English and Spanish. |
| Nursing home | RA028 | Whether individual is in nursing home, equal to 1 if individual resides in nursing home, equal to zero otherwise. |
| Retired Status (Survey) | RJ005M1 | Whether individual reported being retired and given the retired survey for the experimental module 1. Equal to 1 if individual responded retired to their current employment status, equal to zero otherwise. |
| Source: 2020 HRS Experimental Module 1 | ||
| Retirement Knowledge Scale (RKS) | Constructed | We constructed the RKS as the mean of all RKS items. All responses for the RKS items were transformed linearly to a 0–100 possible range, assigning 0 for 1, 33.33 for 2, 66.66 for 3, and 100 for 4. Please refer to HRS webpage for routing document for survey questions: https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/sites/default/files/meta/2020/core/qnaire/online/Module1_Retirement_2020B-A.pdf |
| Self-reflection: Age (RKS_1) | RV101 | Reflection about retirement age (how often). Variable with values 1–4, 1=never, 2=one time, 3=two or three times, 4=four or more times. |
| Self-reflection: Money (RKS_2) | RV102 | Reflection about how much money you would need to save for retirement (how often). Variable with values 1–4, 1=never, 2=one time, 3=two or three times, 4=four or more times. |
| Engagement: Print source (RKS_3) | RV103 | Engagement with information about retirement, printed source (how often). Variable with values 1–4, 1=never, 2=one time, 3=two or three times, 4=four or more times. |
| Engagement: Web (RKS_4) | RV104 | Engagement with information about retirement, web/internet (how often). Variable with values 1–4, 1=never, 2=one time, 3=two or three times, 4=four or more times. |
| Engagement: Family/friend (RKS_5) | RV105 | Engagement with information about retirement, family/friends (how often). Variable with values 1–4, 1=never, 2=one time, 3=two or three times, 4=four or more times. |
| Engagement: Finance professional (RKS_6) | RV106 | Engagement with information about retirement, finance professional (how often). Variable with values 1–4, 1=never, 2=one time, 3=two or three times, 4=four or more times. |
| Engagement: Workshop/class (RKS_7) | RV107 | Engagement with information about retirement, attended workshop/class (how often). Variable with values 1–4, 1=never, 2=one time, 3=two or three times, 4=four or more times. |
| Self-evaluation: Ret. account work (RKS_8) | RV108 | Evaluation of knowledge about how retirement savings accounts work. Variable with values 1–4, 1=nothing at all, 2=a little, 3=some, 4=a great deal. |
| Self-evaluation: Diff. ret. Account (RKS_9) | RV109 | Evaluation of knowledge about different types of retirement savings accounts. Variable with values 1–4, 1=nothing at all, 2=a little, 3=some, 4=a great deal. |
| Self-evaluation: Fin. Preparedness (RKS_10) | RV110 | Evaluation of retirement preparedness. Variable with values 1–4, 1=not at all prepared, 2=a little prepared, 3=somewhat prepared, 4=very prepared. |
| Financial Literacy Scale (FLS) | Constructed | We constructed the FLS as the mean of all FLS items. FLS item scored as 0 for incorrect and do not know and 100 for correct answers. Please refer to HRS webpage for routing document for survey questions: https://hrs.isr.umich.edu/sites/default/files/meta/2020/core/qnaire/online/Module1_Retirement_2020B-A.pdf |
| Financial literacy: Inflation (FLS_1) | RV111 | Financial literacy question about the concept of inflation (balance in a savings account with X interest rate and X inflation rate). |
| Financial literacy: Interest rate (FLS_2) | RV112 | Financial literacy question about the concept of compound interest rate (balance in a savings account after X years of). |
| Financial literacy: Risk (FLS_3) | RV113 | Financial literacy question about the concept of risk (buying single company stock versus stock mutual fund). |