Adults Make Riskier, More Inconsistent Decisions As They Get Older, Study Finds 225
schliz writes "People aged over 65 make poorer financial decisions and more inconsistent choices than younger individuals with the same IQ, an international research group has found. The study (abstract) had 135 healthy participants aged 12-90 make a series of decisions: for example, choosing between gaining $5 and the chance to win $20 in a lottery. On average, over-65s earned 26-39% less than all other age groups, including adolescents — a finding that could partially explain their susceptibility to problem gambling and scams."
They've got money to burn (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Insightful)
OR, they're more worried about fiscal security at the end of their lives, and fear of things like being shoved in a crappy nursing home and having all their possessions sold off frightens them into taking risks they wouldn't otherwise consider.
Not all people over 65 are rich, you know; fact is, most are quite the opposite.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:4, Informative)
OR, they're more worried about fiscal security at the end of their lives, and fear of things like being shoved in a crappy nursing home and having all their possessions sold off frightens them into taking risks they wouldn't otherwise consider.
The study says fogies prefer less risk.
Compared to other age groups, older adults tended to prefer to lock in guaranteed earnings over gambling on a bigger win.
Now you can turn your theory around to make it about how the poor elderly are fearful of losing what little they have etc. etc., should work just as well for you.
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Fair enough.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Insightful)
Mod parent up.
That's pretty much the way I read it too.
Old folks don't necessary look at the world as a place where you buy a few shares of Apple or Google and wait for it to grow, or where you throw money into a gambling addiction expecting your luck has to turn someday.
The author tries to spin simple fiscal conservatism as something irrational. But older people know the odds are always in the houses favor, and are less willing to play that game. Sounds like the people with gambling addiction were the people writing the story.
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The author tries to spin simple fiscal conservatism as something irrational. But older people know the odds are always in the houses favor, and are less willing to play that game. Sounds like the people with gambling addiction were the people writing the story.
It indicate to me that the older people align desires differently from the laws of probability. And sometimes that means less risk, but sometimes more. What they didn't break down was that elderly are less risk tolerant for gains (one in the hand is worth two in the bush), but are more risk tolerant for losses (I don't know a good parable for here).
It isn't about fiscal conservatism, but inconsistent application of probabilities. And it's that inconsistency that was interesting.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Interesting)
The study says fogies prefer less risk.
Not quite. The study found that geezers are less willing to take a risk to win, but more willing to take risks to avoid a loss. In many cases they were avoiding good risks and taking bad risks. Overall, they were making worse decisions than younger people when either accepting or declining risks.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:4, Informative)
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Which makes total sense since they have less time to "win it back"
Seems fairly logical.
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The study says fogies prefer less risk.
Not quite. The study found that geezers are less willing to take a risk to win, but more willing to take risks to avoid a loss. In many cases they were avoiding good risks and taking bad risks. Overall, they were making worse decisions than younger people when either accepting or declining risks.
This is consistent with what we are taught. Look at retirement accounts. When you are young you are encouraged to take more risk and invest heavily in equities. By retirement, you are encouraged to be heavy in fixed income. Normally that is a safe position. However, since you are no longer diversified, if something happens to interest rates, you face a significant decline in value.
It has nothing to do with age and everything to do with training.
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This is consistent with what we are taught.
No it isn't. There is no logical difference between taking a risk to win $20, and taking a risk to avoid the loss of $20. Either way, you net $20. Old people are not taking more risk or less risk, they are just taking dumb, illogical risks.
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The study says fogies prefer less risk.
The study says fogies prefer *more* risk, when it comes to losses.
But when it came to gambling on a loss (where you can choose between say, a $5 loss or a chance to lose either $0 or $8), older adults took significantly more risks.
But I got that from TFA, and not the actual study, so manybe the study says something different.
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Just as likely, the older folks saw thru the research and a painless way to bet on a big score, something they seldom actually do in
real live.
As for unacceptability to scams, you really only see this in people new to the internet or who never had to deal with dishonest merchants before, perhaps because a deceased loved one took care of that for them in the past. Unless there is an under lying dementia problem old folks are harder to fool than kids, or even 20-somethings.
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Not all people over 65 are rich, you know; fact is, most are quite the opposite.
The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater [boston.com] than a household headed by someone under 35. This wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago.
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Your article points out much of that gap has to do with house prices.
Which I agree with, and would like to point out that the housing market is similarly fragmented. There are a lot of places in the US where the house values continue to decline, and others where the house values are exceeding the pre bubble values. But the one trend everywhere is that the houses in the upper 1/4rd of the desirability scale are the ones going up. Its the white flight syndrome but it seems to have more to do with "class" and
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:4, Informative)
The typical U.S. household headed by a person age 65 or older has a net worth 47 times greater [boston.com] than a household headed by someone under 35. This wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago.
Isn't that as it should be, after working and saving all your life? Net worth includes possessions, house, savings for retirement, etc. Also, take the aging one-percenters (or the 0.1%) out of the numbers (or use median instead of mean) and I bet the disparity growth is a lot flatter. Fundamentally, there's a difference b/t being well off because you worked hard all your life and being well off because you (1) owned the means of productions, (2) bought off legislators, and (3) found a way to exploit others.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Insightful)
You ignored: "This wealth gap is now more than double what it was in 2005 and nearly five times the 10-to-1 disparity a quarter-century ago" even after you quoted it! Some disparity is desirable (since people bulk up savings for retirement) but why has it grown so fast and so large?
I can tell you this, my dad worked at a company extremely similar to where I work, and he is enjoying a retirement I will never have, at least without extreme sacrifice now which he did not do. He got a full pension and pre-medicare healthcare benefits - both things that my employer has cut since after I hired on here. I tell him about it and he's kind of surprised. I can't blame him personally. But in general old people are just cruising along assuming nothing has really changed and "what's the matter with kids these days" that they're racking up college debt and not settling down, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they're sucking up everything in sight just by honoring the promises they made to each other back when, while failing to set enough aside to pay for them.
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OR, they're more worried about fiscal security at the end of their lives, and fear of things like being shoved in a crappy nursing home and having all their possessions sold off frightens them into taking risks they wouldn't otherwise consider.
Well, just as an anecdote...my Mom and Dad both retired circa 1999-2000. They moved most of their retirement funds out of stocks pretty much at the peak of dot-com bubble, which in retrospect was a brilliant move as they effectively cashed out just before the market tanked.
Fast-forward to 2007-2008, and they had a good portion of their funds in stocks and got burned quite a bit in the crash (they had a substantial holding in WaMu, which didn't help). When I asked my Dad why he didn't stay in more conser
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:4, Informative)
Not all people over 65 are rich, you know; fact is, most are quite the opposite.
Your "soap line" America where the elderly eat dog food is a fiction that exists in the minds of dupes that swallow the lamentations and whining of pressure groups. The US elderly are the wealthiest class of people in the history of the species. They've voted themselves a nice suite of bennies to offset the cost of their fifth wheels, boats and cabins. Today, as in Oct. 1, 2013, they've managed to bridle their grand-kids to fund even more healthcare; a cost they did not pay for their own elders.
Erratic financial decisions are a symptom of excessive disposable wealth.
Dude, i am as pissed about what the baby boomers have done to this nation as any other person not in that generation, but seriously, stop being an asshole. It is not a myth that their are many poor to lower middle class folks (particularly women and minority) folks over 65 that have to worry greatly about how they are going to end their days. I am only 45 and doing decently and I am panicked about it, and my poor mother is doubly so (while my rich asshole father is happily frittering his days away and donating to tea party assholes).
A lot of folks over 65 were just as screwed by the fat cats that made sure their retirement was going swimmingly while passing the cost on to others. There is significant desperation even amongst the baby boomers and for the same reasons. Only they are less able to distract themselves, if only because they are literally less physically able to do so. Why to you think old age alcoholism and suicide are such issues? Is it because they are so rich that the worldly ennui is killing them, or is it maybe that they can no longer deny how fucked they are? appreciate your youthful self confidence while you can, it gets harder as you get older, unless you are one of the lucky rich ones.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Interesting)
The Rising Age Gap in Economic Well-Being [pewsocialtrends.org]
As per their training, the old think they're poor . That's why they have zero hesitation imposing whatever burdens they're told they deserve on whomever they're told can afford to pay.
There is nothing to worry about. Today. The regime is secure and the bennies will flow.
Right up until the currency folds.
Then the cutbacks; the PIIGS found out what that's about.
None of this is real. The whole damn nation is one giant ponzi scheme of vote buying, and it has a expiration date.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Interesting)
"On average, over-65s earned 26-39% less than all other age groups, including adolescents — a finding that could partially explain their susceptibility to problem gambling and scams."
Might this have something to do with the fact that age discrimination is ripe in the workplace. Try landing a well-paying corporate gig if you are over 60, no matter your skill set. It's nigh impossible. And, with decreasing job opportunities for workers over 60, one can imagine that some significant minority of them become more desperate to the point where they begin to consider irrational alternatives to making ends meet. Of course, this doesn't eliminate the fact that very senior individuals - some with excess money to burn, use that money to fill the ever-increasing, yawning gap of boredom and disconnection in their lives brought on by the social isolation of the elderly in our culture. So, I think this is more of a structural problem.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:4, Informative)
... Might this have something to do with the fact that age discrimination is ripe^W rife in the workplace ...
FTFY
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...though that could have been a pun on the aged. Or half a spoonerism.
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A lot of that isolation is self enforced. Of course no one wants to visit great-grandma when she just wants to scream racist gibberish about the president and homophobic crap about your cousins. Old people often have beliefs that are simply not compatible with living in a modern society. You can't take them into public if you fear they may call your waiter the N word or go on a tirade about the jews when you are trying to get groceries.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Interesting)
My (german) grandmother has advanced alzheimer's, and is has reverted pretty much to her childhood. On a good day, she's in her 20's (which covers the period from 1939-1945). She has been known to wax poetical about Hitler, and has interesting ideas about homosexuals, gypsies, and the jews.
I still visit her. I leave my girlfriend at home when I visit her, and smile politely when she tries to introduce me to men she knows (knew back then). One time, she tried to hook me up with my uncle. At family events, my GF is "a good friend who didn't have anybody to visit" for the benefit of my grandmother. You may choose to sweep the elderly under the rug, I choose not to. We can still be compassionate in how we treat them, and there are constructive ways to deal with people who hold beliefs that we disagree with.
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There are beliefs we don't agree with and then there are people who would rather see you dead.
Imagine if your grandmother found out about your girlfriend, what would you do then?
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There are beliefs we don't agree with and then there are people who would rather see you dead.
Imagine if your grandmother found out about your girlfriend, what would you do then?
Your statement might be interesting in the general sense. In this specific instance, your point is moot. What would you have her do with a person who is literally stuck with a mentality of half a century ago, no rational discussion will change her attitude (especially once she forgets the conversation), probably doesn't remember you half the time, and quite likely has no capacity to do you harm? You would be just as wise to be outraged at her clear promotion of incest...presuming she had any awareness of
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Speaking your mind is fine, being hateful is not.
If you don't like group X then don't associate with them, no need to be hateful.
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Spoken like someone who has never watched a loved one lose their mind to Alzheimer's.
Most people keep their hateful, racist, discriminatory, and otherwise hurtful thoughts to themselves. They do their best to bury those tendencies and be better than the environment they were raised in.
But dementia destroys that filter. People that were normal, nice, average-joe people become hateful, angry, violent monsters. They do and say horrible things. And if you confront them about it, it's like talking to a brick wal
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I fear that I'm developing Alzheimer's, because I can't tell if this thread has been Godwin'd or not.
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I have had both of these things happen to me on more than one occasion. Each time it was as if the world went in to slow motion and I could not get my mother out of the area fast enough. At one point in a particularly awkward situation I seriously thought someone was going to punch my 73-year-old mother in the face. No matter how many times I try to expla
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You may have odd grandparents. On the whole, I find there's as much to learn from previous generations as there is to discard.
There's this growing, worrying tendency on the left side these days to simply dismiss out of hand anyone who says anything against orthodox beliefs. Yes, it's perfectly possibly that someone who thinks gays are bad has valuable insights to offer in unrelated areas of life, if you can keep an open mind about cultures different from yours.
Of course, the right has always had this prob
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Actually I was speaking about inlaws, but whatever.
I think I did not explain adequately, they don't want to talk about anything else. They only want to discuss what that seekrit mooslim ursurper has done now to hand over the country to the devil or how your friends and family will rot in hell for being gay or whatever. They have no interest in discussing valuable stuff, just whatever they heard from similar nuts.
I never mention I am an atheist for example, I don't want to fight about it, but they have to st
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No. No, it might not. Know know I can tell you didn't even make it all the way through the FP summary?
TFA means that number as only in the context of this one experiment, not as a generalization about the incomes of the elderly.
Re:They've got money to burn (Score:5, Informative)
You didn't interpret even TFS correctly: the "earnings" were from the game to which the participants were subjected. It nothing at all to do with their employment prospects.
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No, both TFA and you are conflating two different issues. Actually, there are three issues at play, two of which are mutually exclusive and the other two are related but not exactly the same.
Over 65 is retirement age. You're not socially expected to work anymore (though you may still need to). So the fact that seniors take more risks has nothing to do with age discrimination, which has the greatest effect on people between 55 and 65, i.e. below 65. Falling for a con is not the same as gambling, but the elde
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"Actually, there are three issues at play, two of which are mutually exclusive and the other two are related but not exactly the same."
I am intrigued by your mathematics
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"No"
Exactly: no.
TFA is easy and clear. Conclussion: we get dumber with age.
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...or their memory goes, they get confused more easily, and they get targeted by con artists who specialize in bilking the elderly. Saw it happen to my grandpa. We finally had to lock down his accounts and appoint my uncle as a conservator. He was signing over his pension checks to every gypsy that came to his door. Then he would call his sons up, confused that his checks were suddenly bouncing.
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After what they did to my grandpa, I guess they'll just have to suck my dick then.
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Oh? Just what did they do to your grandfather that has anything to do with the culture as a whole?
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I've already taken that into account with my death plan, whore-house heart attack.
You reach a certain age and... (Score:5, Insightful)
...someday you say to yourself "Look, for my entire life I've done the 'right thing' and even now it doesn't help my joints stop aching or buy me a bowel movement, so what the hell, let's try something else."
Re:You reach a certain age and... (Score:4, Funny)
I am pretty sure you can buy a bowel movement. Heck, I can sell you one right now. Would you like it shipped UPS or Fedex?
Corn or no Corn?
"Feeblemindedness" (Score:5, Insightful)
That's what my dad used to call it when it happened to grandpa. Grandpa went from being a shrewd businessman to being someone we had to keep an eye on at all times (he would fall for every con artist who showed up at his door). That why "Travellers" in particular prey on older people.
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Grandpa went from being a shrewd businessman to being someone we had to keep an eye on at all times (he would fall for every con artist who showed up at his door).
What's his address? I've got some great pills that will help him with that.
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Myself being a Rromani Traveller.
I would like to point out that all such racist stereotyping is unacceptable. Regardless weather you employ "cute" usage of quotation marks around proper nouns or not.
At no point should it be acceptable that /anybodies/ ethnic or racial background be a synonym for 'criminal'
(please don't mod me deep beneath the abyss... This needs to be said)
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"At no point should it be acceptable that /anybodies/ ethnic or racial background be a synonym for 'criminal'"
Racial? for sure it shouldn't make any difference but, ethnicity?
Sorry if it doesn't sound politically correct to you but ethnicity and culture go hand in hand and, therefore, is perfectly possible to define an ethnicity as criminal (by others' standards): Huns, for instace, were definitely criminals by everybody else's standards. Do you find that to be unreasonable?
I think they were just bored (Score:5, Insightful)
"Each participant were faced with 320 decisions: for example, choosing between gaining $5 and the chance to win $20 in a lottery."
After a few dozen questions like that, I'd be so bored that I'd start choosing randomly without thinking about it just to get it over with. There's no way in hell I would seriously think about each and every question out of a list of 320.
Re:I think they were just bored (Score:5, Insightful)
Did they correct for income?
Kids and young folks are more motivated to get $5 since they have low resources. If you are retired, why not take the chance on $20 vs a sure $5 you don't need?
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Not income, wealth. 60+ has one of the lowest income brackets, but it's the wealthiest. They already made their money, now it's time to have fun, hence playing the lotto.
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But TFA says exactly the opposite occurred--"older adults tended to prefer to lock in guaranteed earnings over gambling on a bigger win".
The noteworthy part of the study is not simply that the elderly made less money, but that their decisions were inconsistent and irrational.
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Did they correct for income?
Kids and young folks are more motivated to get $5 since they have low resources. If you are retired, why not take the chance on $20 vs a sure $5 you don't need?
Yes. They would need to.
The idea is this:
Would you take $1 or a coin flip for $2?
Would you take $5 or a coin flip for $10?
Would you take $10 or a coin flip for $20?
An `irrational' person would answer (Yes, No, Yes), or (No, Yes, No). Someone that answered all Yes or all No would not be inconsistent, nor would someone who answered (Yes, Yes, No) or (No, No, Yes), those people would be labeled as risk averse then risk loving.
As someone who has to sit through a lot of talks about research like this, Grum
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An `irrational' person would answer (Yes, No, Yes), or (No, Yes, No).
Actually those answers could be perfectly rational depending on how hungry you are, how much cash is in your wallet, and which fast food restaurants are within walking distance.
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Did they correct for income?
Kids and young folks are more motivated to get $5 since they have low resources. If you are retired, why not take the chance on $20 vs a sure $5 you don't need?
Except the study says fogies prefer less risk.
Compared to other age groups, older adults tended to prefer to lock in guaranteed earnings over gambling on a bigger win.
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The article and the abstract didn't specify the probability of winning the $20 (the full paper is paywalled). In any case, the article said that old people were more likely to play it safe when gambling on earnings, so I'd guess that the probability was higher than 25% and they chose the $5 anyway, not the $20.
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This operates the opposite. When you are older chances are you have a fixed income. If so, don't have time to take a chance because if you take that chance and it fails to pay off you don't have time to earn it back. You are better to go for the $5 that is safe. If you are younger, if the chance doesn't pay off, you still have the chance of maybe earning it back down the road.
Although I recently saw this happen with my own father. Who, in the words of my cousin who is a certified financial planner, is
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Call it "Walter White Syndrome".
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"Each participant were faced with 320 decisions: for example, choosing between gaining $5 and the chance to win $20 in a lottery."
After a few dozen questions like that, I'd be so bored that I'd start choosing randomly without thinking about it just to get it over with. There's no way in hell I would seriously think about each and every question out of a list of 320.
Sounds like someone's running low on blood sugar [nytimes.com]. Seriously, though, I wonder if they considered having to correct for that effect.
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If the questions were presented in random order, you could look for a regression linked to how far into the test a particular subject was when they got to that question.
What do you have to lose at EOL? (Score:5, Insightful)
When you might only be years away from death.. (Score:3)
The world is ruled by grey-haired folk who are still a good bit away from retirement, have lots to lose (career, assets, life). Which explains why the world is getting more boring by the day.
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Oh, good point. Maybe old people make riskier decisions because they have less to lose.
Well that explains alot (Score:3, Insightful)
I may get flamed for this but screw it. This would explain a lot of the issues we see from the Congress Critters.
Maybe not (Score:2)
Sad but True (Score:2, Informative)
My dad is an engineer and has an MBA. He's 79 and been retired for a while. He could be the case study for this article. He has made horrible financial decisions for the past 15+ years despite a career of doing exactly the opposite.
Well, thanks. (Score:5, Funny)
I was reading this in my car on the way to the payday loans place and I got so outraged that I drifted out of my lane and hit a parked gasoline tanker. So I figure I might as well park here and finish reading the thread. There's a lot of smoke but with the windows rolled up it isn't too bad.
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I'm saying there's absolutely no truth to the rumor that old people make bad decisions. Gee, the smoke is getting really bad.
Cognitive Biases (Score:5, Interesting)
This sort of thing is in the general class of cognitive biases. Another example of this class is the Dunning Kruger effect.
Cognitive biases have a large negative effect on the financial performance of the general public. In particular if you want to be a successful investor it's very important to be aware of this issue.
Daniel Kahneman (a psychologist) won the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics because of his pioneering work in the field of Behavioral Economics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Kahneman [wikipedia.org]
Does this jibe with peak finance = 53? (Score:3)
I read about another study where they found financial ability peaked, on average, at 53. Before that you don't have enough experience. Then cognitive decline sets in. YMMV of course.
Age or culture? (Score:2)
Slanted demographic? (Score:2)
So once again a behavioral study whose subjects all came only from developed First World nations, and likely only those whose first language was English? What could go wrong?
Painfully Obvious (Score:2)
This is just the difference between short and long term investment strategies. When one is young, it makes sense to use long term strategies that minimize risk and go for gradual growth. When one is elderly, long term investment makes no sense anymore. Look backward and see missed opportunities; look forward and see an approaching dead end. The chance to make it big gradually is gone, and the only hope one has left to live one's dreams is explosive growth. It's now or never, so short term, high-risk st
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That is exactly the opposite of what courses in portfolio theory and risk management teach. The amount of risk that someone can reasonably tolerate is directly related to one's time horizon. Younger investors are wise to invest in assets that have higher risk, because their performance smooths out over time. On the other hand, older investors have a greater need for stability, since they will be drawing upon those investments much sooner--they cannot afford to have a large proportion of their portfolio i
Why not? (Score:2)
Heck when I turn 75 I think I might try heroin, start smoking cigarettes again, and have unprotected sex with 28 year old hookers. Why the hell not?
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Relevant quote from Little Miss Sunshine:
"When you're young, you're crazy to do that shit [heroin]. Me?! I'm old! You get to be my age -- you're crazy not to do it."
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Except you forgot 28 year old Thai hookers.
Age and retirement (Score:3)
Some of it could be due to attitudes changing after retirement. Before retirement the idea of having to put back savings for retirement and be careful not to blow your money because you're going to need it later colors your thinking. After retirement you don't need to save up for retirement, and you become very aware that you do not have an entire lifetime ahead of you to worry about anymore. That changes your evaluation of risk.
Is it age or a generational issue? (Score:4, Insightful)
I hardly believe it's an age issue. You would have to demonstrate that the same person made different decisions at different points in their life. It would be like saying, "The older you get, the more likely you'll not know how to use a cell phone." It's just not true.
The reality is that you have generational cultures. For example, I'd bet older people smoke more too. Doesn't mean I'm going to do it when I get old. I know better now than they did at my age.
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The reality is that you have generational cultures. For example, I'd bet older people smoke more too. Doesn't mean I'm going to do it when I get old. I know better now than they did at my age.
This is a crucial point. People who are 65 or over now are a generation who have had to deal with the uncertainties and complexities of investing in IRAs and other retirement accounts to save -- something their parents probably didn't have to do in the same way, since they had often had pensions. Their parents likely could throw something in a savings account or savings bonds and gradually watch the growth over the decades, but the current older generation was told to put money in mutual funds in their IR
Post score filter? (Score:2)
Also explains... (Score:2)
Why our IRAs/401Ks perform so poorly. They're almost all invested and managed by over 65 folks.
This isn't exactly surprising (Score:2)
Risk/Reward/Cost (Score:3)
As we get older we start realizing that we have less opportunities left to succeed and less time to suffer the consequences of failure. We also come to realize that losing isn't as painful as we always thought it would be, and in the worst case we could end up dead - in which case we won't care. It just makes sense to take more risks. Falling for scams comes from a host of other age-related factors that include both physiological changes and changes in attitude.
Grandpa: Which will it be ... (Score:2)
Old fogey hatred (Score:5, Interesting)
As a person on the tail end of the boomer generation, I saved a lot of money from my paychecks, I retired at 56, and am living quite comfortably.
We get surely a lot of hate. We're Selfish, entitled, and now foolish. Bloody fucking hell - I don't even collect SS for many years yet. I am not costing you poor abused, persecuted, and robbed of your entitlement everyone elses a damn thing, You want my fucking bank account or something?
Perhaps a different perspective is in order.
I started my career, back in the 70's, and immediately began saving. Pretty conservative investments. A lot of people I worked with at the time said that was pretty stupid. I had people making 3, 4 times as much who saved nothing, Whatever.
Young people have their chance to do the same as long as they have a job . But many don't want to. Just like many of the folks I worked with way back then. Right now interest rates are not that good. But history shows they will eventually go back up. Inflation was the big excuse not to save when I was young. Now it's interest rates. Ignore that. Save. You'll be an idiot for a few years. After that, not so much.
Now for a dose ot truth.
We are at the point, where people who haven't planned well, or people who don't really intend to plan well, resent and hate those who did. But if you are successful in your efforts to make those of us who did plan well poorer, that will not make you wealthy. You'll still be poor, you'll just have more company.
So if you really really gotta hate on us, go ahead. Tha'ts the only thing you'll have though - your hate, and the prospect of trying to live on Social Security. Save your money - no one owes you anything.
Most comments seem to miss the point (Score:4, Insightful)
... possibly because the summary does a very poor job of representing the article, by leaving out the most important part of it.
The elderly are not overall more willing to take risks, it is just that the risks they are taking are different and less consistent. If faced with potential earnings, they'd rather take smaller guaranteed earnings than larger and riskier earnings; exactly the sort of stereotype of the cautious elderly you'd expect.
But if faced with losses they'd rather take the risk of a much bigger loss than the guaranteed loss.
My interpretation is that they are so afraid of losses they'll do anything to avoid them, even irrationally gambling to avoid loss. This sort of fits with the stereotype of keeping money in your mattress to avoid losses in bank charges and taxes, despite the fact that one single fire or robbery would ruin you.
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Psychology undergraduates. No, they don't get paid.
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"so people with no practical experience in life are judging people with massive experience on the quality of their decision making abilities."
No, they aren't.
They are metering their scores on a game and studying the correlation between scores and ages.
And if all that mattered were that correlation, the one that modded you insightful would be at least 200 year old.
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It appears you've yet to reach yours...
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They're not senile yet or have people to manage their money for them. For example Rupert Murdoch is known to run his supercars out of gas. This isn't the kind of forethought that would let him keep his money, if he were managing it himself.
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I can't believe people fall for that. Just another tax on being bad at math, bring 'em on.