Impact of Population Aging on Household Savings and Portfolio Choice in Japan

Abstract

We examine whether Japanese households have begun to dissave and reduce their holdings of risky assets because of population aging over the period 2000–14. While there is little doubt that household savings have decreased, the true trend without a negative income shock in the early 2000s would have been declining more smoothly and moderately. The average share of risky assets in household portfolios increases with age and barely decreases even for retired households. The main sources of increasing household wealth are the increasing wealth of the elderly and the increasing proportion of the wealthier elderly population.