Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jfamec/v33y2012i3p315-327.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial Sophistication and Housing Leverage Among Older Households

Author

Listed:
  • Hyrum Smith
  • Michael Finke
  • Sandra Huston
Abstract
Increasing mortgage debt among older households has been cited as evidence of financial distress caused by low financial knowledge, poor lending practices, and an increased appetite for debt. This paper investigates whether housing leverage among older households is related to financial sophistication, tax effects, and a desire to increase portfolio allocation to risky assets. Results indicate a time trend in low housing leverage, but no trend in high housing leverage. While housing leverage increases with liquidity constraints, it also increases with financial sophistication, and tax and portfolio incentives are strongly related to high housing leverage. The incentive to borrow against home value created by the deductibility of mortgage interest appears to encourage greater housing leverage and vulnerability to housing price shocks. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Hyrum Smith & Michael Finke & Sandra Huston, 2012. "Financial Sophistication and Housing Leverage Among Older Households," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 315-327, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:33:y:2012:i:3:p:315-327
    DOI: 10.1007/s10834-012-9293-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10834-012-9293-4
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10834-012-9293-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alicia H. Munnell & Mauricio Soto, 2008. "The Housing Bubble and Retirement Security," Issues in Brief ib2008-8-12, Center for Retirement Research, revised Aug 2008.
    2. Jensen, Helen H., 1985. "Home Equity Use and the Life Cycle Hypothesis," Staff General Research Papers Archive 11234, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    3. Waggle, Doug & Johnson, Don T., 2009. "Homeownership and mixed-asset portfolio allocations," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 484-500, May.
    4. Michael S. Finke & Sandra J. Huston & Deanna L. Sharpe, 2006. "Balance sheets of early boomers: are they different from pre-boomers?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 542-561, September.
    5. Todd Sinai & Nicholas S. Souleles, 2007. "Net Worth and Housing Equity in Retirement," NBER Working Papers 13693, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:3:p:999-1037 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Annamarie Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2005. "Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Wellbeing," Working Papers wp108, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    8. Sam Allgood & William B. Walstad, 2011. "The Effects of Perceived and Actual Financial Knowledge on Credit Card Behavior," NFI Working Papers 2011-WP-15, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    9. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    10. Laurent E. Calvet & John Y. Campbell & Paolo Sodini, 2009. "Measuring the Financial Sophistication of Households," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 393-398, May.
    11. Cliff Robb, 2011. "Financial Knowledge and Credit Card Behavior of College Students," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 690-698, December.
    12. Yoon Lee & Jean Lown & Deanna Sharpe, 2007. "Predictors of Holding Consumer and Mortgage Debt among Older Americans," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 305-320, June.
    13. Rui Yao & Deanna Sharpe & Elizabeth Gorham, 2011. "An Exploratory Study of Chinese Americans’ Debt Ownership," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 600-611, December.
    14. Michael LaCour-Little, 2007. "The Home Purchase Mortgage Preferences of Low- and Moderate-Income Households," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 35(3), pages 265-290, September.
    15. John Y. Campbell, 2006. "Household Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1553-1604, August.
    16. Amromin, Gene & Huang, Jennifer & Sialm, Clemens, 2007. "The tradeoff between mortgage prepayments and tax-deferred retirement savings," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(10), pages 2014-2040, November.
    17. Bodie, Zvi & Merton, Robert C. & Samuelson, William F., 1992. "Labor supply flexibility and portfolio choice in a life cycle model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 427-449.
    18. Frank P. Stafford & Elena Gouskova, 2010. "Mortgage Contract Decisions and Mortgage Distress: Family and Financial Life-Cycle Factors," Working Papers wp225, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    19. Marjorie Flavin & Takashi Yamashita, 2002. "Owner-Occupied Housing and the Composition of the Household Portfolio," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 345-362, March.
    20. S. Chatterjee & M. Finke & N. Harness, 2011. "The impact of self-efficacy on wealth accumulation and portfolio choice," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(7), pages 627-631.
    21. George Masnick & Zhu Xiao Di & Eric Belsky, 2006. "Emerging cohort trends in housing debt and home equity," Housing Policy Debate, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 491-527.
    22. Bryant,W. Keith & Zick,Cathleen D., 2006. "The Economic Organization of the Household," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521801416.
    23. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia Mitchell, 2007. "Financial Literacy and Retirement Planning: New Evidence from the Rand American Life Panel," Working Papers wp157, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    24. Brahima Coulibaly & Geng Li, 2006. "Do Homeowners Increase Consumption after the Last Mortgage Payment? An Alternative Test of the Permanent Income Hypothesis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(1), pages 10-19, February.
    25. repec:use:tkiwps:2323 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Christine Lai, 2008. "How Retired Households and Households Approaching Retirement Handle Their Equity Investments in the United States," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 601-622, December.
    27. Glenn B. Canner & Karen E. Dynan & Wayne Passmore, 2002. "Mortgage refinancing in 2001 and early 2002," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 88(Dec), pages 469-481, December.
    28. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    29. Bryant,W. Keith & Zick,Cathleen D., 2006. "The Economic Organization of the Household," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521805278.
    30. John Heaton & Deborah Lucas, 2000. "Portfolio Choice and Asset Prices: The Importance of Entrepreneurial Risk," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1163-1198, June.
    31. Yoko Mimura, 2008. "Housing Cost Burden, Poverty Status, and Economic Hardship among Low-income Families," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 152-165, March.
    32. Annamarie Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2005. "Financial Literacy and Planning: Implications for Retirement Wellbeing," Working Papers wp108, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    33. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell & Vilsa Curto, 2009. "Financial Literacy and Financial Sophistication Among Older Americans," NBER Working Papers 15469, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kyoung Tae Kim & Jae Min Lee, 2021. "A Review of a Decade of Financial Behavior Research in the Journal of Family and Economic Issues," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 131-141, July.
    2. Okechukwu D. Anyamele, 2018. "Racial Ethnic differences in Household Loan Delinquency Rate in recent financial crisis: Evidence from 2007 and 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 8(3), pages 1-4.
    3. E. Pastrapa & C. Apostolopoulos, 2015. "Estimating Determinants of Borrowing: Evidence from Greece," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 210-223, June.
    4. Tammy Leonard & Wenhua Di, 2014. "Is Household Wealth Sustainable? An Examination of Asset Poverty Reentry After an Exit," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 131-144, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guiso, Luigi & Sodini, Paolo, 2013. "Household Finance: An Emerging Field," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 1397-1532, Elsevier.
    2. van Rooij, Maarten C.J. & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob J.M., 2011. "Financial literacy and retirement planning in the Netherlands," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 593-608, August.
    3. Christelis, Dimitris & Jappelli, Tullio & Padula, Mario, 2010. "Cognitive abilities and portfolio choice," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 18-38, January.
    4. Annamaria Lusardi, 2008. "Financial Literacy: An Essential Tool for Informed Consumer Choice?," NFI Working Papers 2008-WP-13, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    5. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell & Vilsa Curto, 2009. "Financial Literacy and Financial Sophistication Among Older Americans," NBER Working Papers 15469, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Khorunzhina, Natalia, 2013. "Structural estimation of stock market participation costs," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 2928-2942.
    7. Annamaria Lusardi, 2010. "Financial Capability in the United States: Consumer Decision-Making and the Role of Social Security," Working Papers wp226, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    8. Lusardi, Annamaria & Tufano, Peter, 2015. "Debt literacy, financial experiences, and overindebtedness," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 332-368, October.
    9. Annamaria Lusardi, 2008. "Household Saving Behavior: The Role of Financial Literacy, Information, and Financial Education Programs," NBER Working Papers 13824, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Marinos Stefanitsis & Irene Fafaliou & Joseph Hassid, 2013. "Similarities and Differences between Households’ and SME’s Financial Knowledge and Behaviour: A Greek Survey," SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, SPOUDAI Journal of Economics and Business, University of Piraeus, vol. 63(1-2), pages 7-30, June.
    11. Attilio Gardini & Alessandro Magi, 2007. "Stock Market Participation: New Empirical Evidence from Italian Households'Behavior," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 66(1), pages 93-114, March.
    12. Otto Van Hemert, 2010. "Household Interest Rate Risk Management," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 467-505, September.
    13. Noviarini, Jelita & Coleman, Andrew & Roberts, Helen & Whiting, Rosalind H., 2023. "Financial literacy and retirees' resource allocation decisions in New Zealand," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Laurent E. Calvet & Paolo Sodini, 2014. "Twin Picks: Disentangling the Determinants of Risk-Taking in Household Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(2), pages 867-906, April.
    15. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2007. "Financial literacy and retirement planning: New evidence from the Rand American Life Panel," CFS Working Paper Series 2007/33, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    16. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2011. "Financial literacy around the world: an overview," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 497-508, October.
    17. Francisco Gomes & Michael Haliassos & Tarun Ramadorai, 2021. "Household Finance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 59(3), pages 919-1000, September.
    18. Luigi Guiso & Tullio Jappelli, 2008. "Financial Literacy and Portfolio Diversification," Economics Working Papers ECO2008/31, European University Institute.
    19. Bose, Udichibarna & MacDonald, Ronald & Tsoukas, Serafeim, 2014. "The role of education in equity portfolios during the recent financial crisis," 2007 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2007, Portland, Oregon TN 2015-26, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. Sprenger, Julia, 2016. "Explanations or advice: The impact of financial literacy on information acquisition behavior," Ruhr Economic Papers 626, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jfamec:v:33:y:2012:i:3:p:315-327. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.