Inconsistent Retirement Timing

AbstractWe study the effect of inconsistent time preferences on actual and planned retirement timing decisions in two independent datasets. Theory predicts that hyperbolic time preferences can lead to dynamically inconsistent retirement timing. In an online experiment with more than 2,000 participants, we find that time-inconsistent participants retire on average 1.75 years earlier than time-consistent participants do. The planned retirement age of non-retired participants decreases with age. This negative age effect is about twice as strong among time-inconsistent participants. The temptation of early retirement seems to rise in the final years of approaching retirement. Consequently, time-inconsistent participants have a higher probability of regretting their retirement decision. We find similar results for a representative household survey (German SAVE panel). Using smoking behavior and overdraft usage as time preference proxies, we confirm that time-inconsistent participants retire earlier and that non-retirees reduce their planned retirement age within the panel.MethodsWe conduct an online experiment in cooperation with a large and well-circulated German newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Participants are recruited via a link on the newspaper's website and two announcements in the print edition. In total, 3,077 participants complete the experiment, which takes them on average 11 minutes. Participants answer questions about retirement planning, time preferences, risk preferences, financial literacy, and demographics. The initial sample for this study consists of 256 retired participants and 2,173 non-retired participants.Usage NotesOur dataset: STATA Do File is attached Additional Datasets: In addition, a German Household Panle is used in this paper. The data cannot be uploaded by us but is available via the Max Planck Institute (https://www.mpisoc.mpg.de/en/social-policy-mea/research/save-2001-2013/). We upload the Do-Files used in the analysis and the results in an excel format (xlsx).<br>