TY  - JOUR
AU  - Milligan,Kevin
TI  - Life-Cycle Asset Accumulation and Allocation in Canada
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 10860
PY  - 2004
Y2  - October 2004
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10860
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w10860.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Kevin S. Milligan
Department of Economics
University of British Columbia
#997-1873 East Mall
Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1
CANADA
Tel: 604/822-6747
Fax: 604/822-5915
E-Mail: kevin.milligan@ubc.ca
AB  - This paper documents the life-cycle patterns of household portfolios in Canada, and investigates several hypotheses about asset accumulation and allocation. Inferences are drawn from the 1999 Survey of Financial Security, with some comparisons to earlier wealth surveys from 1977 and 1984. I find cross-sectional evidence for asset decumulation at older ages when annuitized assets like pension wealth are included in the analysis. I also find that the portfolio share of financial assets increases sharply with age, while indicators of risk tolerance appear to decrease. This is consistent with families desiring more liquid and less risky assets as they age.
ER  -