The Impact of Individual Investment Behavior for Retirement Welfare: Evidence from the United States and Germany

Variable

Definition

Age

# Children
Gender
Education -
Low

Education -
Middle

Age of respondent

Number of children in the household

Dummy for gender, with 0 = male and 1 = female

Dummy for education category = no degree, on the job training or no
degree, still in school (EVS) and no high school diploma/GED (SCF)
Holdout group for education category (= college degree (Meister,
Berufs- und Fachakademie), apprenticeship (Lehre), still in
apprenticeship or college (EVS) and high school diploma or GED or
some college (SCF))

Education -
High
Occupation -
Employed

Dummy for education category = applied science college degree
(Fachhochschule) or university degree (EVS) and college degree (SCF)
Holdout group for occupation = government employee (Beamter), work
for someone else (Angestellter) or work for someone else (Arbeiter)
(EVS) and work for someone else (SCF)

Occupation -
Unemployed

Dummy for occupation = unemployed, student or other not employed
(homemaker, pupil, ...) (EVS) and other groups not working (mainly
those under 65 and out of the labor force) (SCF)

Occupation -
Retired

Dummy for occupation = retired (Rentner) or retired (Pensionar) (EVS)
and retired/disabled + (student/homemaker/misc. not working and age 65
or older) (SCF)

Income

Labor Income

Total amount of pre-tax income

Total amount of pre-tax income, excluding any income or withdrawals
from investments (financial assets and real estate)

Owns risky 1

% risky 1

Dummy for % risky 1 > 0 vs. = 0

Risky financial assets (including directly-held stocks; risky share
invested in investment funds; mortgage-backed bonds; corporate and
foreign bonds; risky share invested in trusts, annuities and managed
investment accounts, quasi-liquid retirement accounts; other financial
assets (e.g., loans to someone else, future proceed from lawsuits))
divided by Assets

Own risky 2
% risky 2
Owns House
House
Assets

Dummy for % risky 2 > 0 vs. = 0

Risky financial assets (risky 1) + House - Debt divided by Net worth

Dummy for house or real estate ownership

Total value of houses and real estate

Total value of assets, including financial assets and real estate, but
excluding cars and other nonfinancial assets (e.g., paintings)

In Debt

Debt

Net worth

Dummy for Debt > 0 vs. = 0

Total value of debt

Assets - Debt