Individual Financial Planning for Retirement : Empirical Insights from the Affluent Segment in Germany

Over time, the responsibility for providing for a financially secure retirement has shifted more towards the individual. A number of implicit assumptions about perspectives, behavior, and individual choices underlie this shift. These assumptions presume that individuals are well-informed and reason unemotionally; that they process information correctly; and that they take rational decisions and act to maximize their own welfare. Empirical evidence, however, shows that such maxims do not often guide individuals??? actual behavior. Building on a new structure applied to insights drawn from behav