Who determines household savings for old age? Evidence from Dutch panel data

We analyse attitudes of household members towards saving for old age and household saving and portfolio choice behaviour, using a panel of households with a husband and a wife drawn from the Dutch CentER Savings Survey 1994-1997. Our three main findings are: (1) the major determinant of both husbands' and wives' attitudes are the husbands' mandatory pension rights; (2) households with husbands who consider saving for old age as important have larger amounts of discretionary wealth and are more likely to hold stocks and whole life insurance; and (3) the importance of wives' attitudes for household saving and portfolio choice behaviour increases with their income share in total household income.