Microsoft Word Ed Horwitz Post Dissertation Fina docx

 Dependent Variables 
 Retirement Preparedness Best Practice Behaviors  
 
A listing of the variables used is shown in the table of measures in Table B.5 – B.7 
(Appendix B). The three best practice behaviors to be tested were: calculating retirement savings 
needs, owning an individual retirement plan, and stock or securities ownership. A series of 
questions from the survey helped to identify indications of best practice behaviors for each of 
these areas related to retirement preparedness.  
 
Calculating retirement savings needs was measured by a single question from the survey 
asking,  
 
Have you ever tried to figure out how much you need to save for retirement? 
This question has been used extensively in prior research to measure retirement preparedness 
behavior and was used for the HRS (Lusardi, 1999, 2003; Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007a, 2011; 
Lusardi & Beeler, 2007). 
 
 
Measures established by Lusardi and Mitchell (2011) were used to define retirement 
product ownership within the survey data. There were four specific questions in the NCFS 
asking individuals to identify household ownership of financial products. Of these four product 

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ownership questions, one dealt specifically with individual retirement products. The question 
asked, 
 
Do you (or your spouse/partner) have any other retirement accounts NOT through an  
 
employer, like an IRA, Keogh, SEP, or any other type of retirement that you have set up 
 
yourself? 
This question identified individual retirement savings products separate and distinct from 
employer retirement plans and typically requiring action to set up and fund. 
 
The variable for stock or securities ownership behavior was measured using a single 
question item from the survey. This question was asked to responders who indicated the 
ownership of basic financial vehicles like a checking or savings account. The question asked, 
Not including your retirement accounts, does your household have any investments in 
stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or other securities? 
This question helped to identify excess retirement savings beyond any other retirement accounts 
owned by responders.   
All three best practice behaviors were coded so that an affirmative answer of yes on the 
survey question would connote indication of the best practice behavior. Yes or no responses 
were dummy coded to create three unique dependent variables representing these best practice 
behaviors