The effect of a pension app on voluntary retirement savings to occupational pension plans

Last registered on October 15, 2020

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

The effect of a pension app on voluntary retirement savings to occupational pension plans

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0006590

Initial registration date

October 15, 2020

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

October 15, 2020, 12:31 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

Switzerland

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Fabio Haufler

Affiliation

ETH Zurich

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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Massimo Filippini

PI Affiliation

ETH Zurich

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Claudio Daminato

PI Affiliation

ETH Zurich

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Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2020-08-01

End date

2021-06-01

Keywords

Behavior, Finance & Microfinance

Additional Keywords

retirement savings, pension app, information provision, salience, transaction costs, tax-favored savings

JEL code(s)

G51, D14, D15, G53

Secondary IDs

Abstract

We investigate the effect of a pension app on voluntary savings for retirement. Individuals insured in two pension funds in Switzerland will receive a letter nudging them to register to the pension funds' digital information application. We aim to learn what factors determine the demand for pension-related information and what are the barriers to voluntary savings for retirement. The pension funds will send out three versions of the invitation letter to individuals who are not yet registered in the pension app: a baseline version with generic information about the application, a version highlighting that the pension app alllows to calculate tax benefits, and a version stressing the simplified application process for voluntary savings with the application. A fourth group will not receive an invitation letter and acts as the control group. We evaluate first, whether the letters have an effect on the probability to register within the application and, second, whether using the application impacts voluntary saving decisions of the insured individuals.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Daminato, Claudio, Massimo Filippini and Fabio Haufler. 2020. "The effect of a pension app on voluntary retirement savings to occupational pension plans." AEA RCT Registry. October 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6590-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The information provided by the pension app covers several dimensions:
First, it provides general information about the pension system itself, individual choice options and on the performance (return) of the pension fund in the last years.
Second, it informs insured individuals about the status quo of their personal pension wealth in the occupational pension plan: information about the current account balance, projected expected retirement wealth given constant contributions and projected expected pension benefits given constant contributions.
Third, it covers the aspect of planning additional savings: It allows to interactively simulate voluntary contributions to the occupational pension plan. The application calculates and informs about the expected tax savings and the projected changes in retirement wealth and annual pension benefits at retirement due to a lump-sum contribution today. Moreover, the digital application allows to apply directly in the app for additional contributions.
Last, it allows to interactively simulate the projected retirement wealth with different interest rates.

Individuals insured in two different pension funds in Switzerland will receive an invitation letter with information regarding the pension funds' digital information application and the registration process. Invitation letters will only be sent to individuals who are not yet registered in the application and had the chance to register previously. The funds will send out three versions of the letter: a baseline version with generic information about the application, a version stressing the possiblity to calculate tax benefits in the application and a version stressing the simplified application process for voluntary savings within the application. A fourth group will not receive any letter and acts as the control group.

Intervention Start Date

2020-10-19

Intervention End Date

2020-10-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

registration status in pension application, voluntary contributions to the pension fund, voluntary withdrawls from the pension fund

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Individuals insured with two pension funds in Switzerland and not yet reigstered in the pension application are randomly assigned to four equally large groups. The first acts as the control group and the other three groups receive each a different version of an invitation letter. The pension funds send the letters to the individuals in their preferred language (German, French, Italian or English) all at the same time.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

randomization done in office by a computer with the program STATA

Randomization Unit

the unit of randomization is the insured individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Sample size: planned number of observations

8658 insured individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

2107 individuals in control group, 2191 individuals receiving letter 1, 2196 individuals receiving letter 2, 2164 individuals receiving letter 3

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Minimum detectable effect for the probability of being registered in the application is a change of 4 percentage points with a 95% confidence level. This corresponds to a change of 15% compared to the pre-treatment level. Minimum detectable effect for the probability of making a voluntary contribution is a change of 1.5 percentage points with a 95% confidence level. This corresponds to a change of 50% compared to the pre-treatment level.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB