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Journal of Banking & Finance Vol. 135 2022

Life-cycle portfolio choice with imperfect predictors

Alexander Michaelides1; Yuxin Zhang2

1 Imperial College London · 2 Renmin University of China

Abstract

We study quantitatively how uncertainty in expected stock return predictability affects life-cycle portfolio choice and wealth accumulation in the presence of undiversifiable labor income risk. Households filter information about future expected returns from observed predictors and realized stock returns. Therefore, optimal portfolio choice does not only depend on financial wealth and age, as in more traditional life-cycle models. Counterfactuals demonstrate the magnitude of portfolio demand changes that depend on perceptions about underlying expected returns. On average, life-cycle asset allocation becomes more conservative than models with either i.i.d. stock returns, or with clearer signals about expected stock returns.

DOI
10.1016/j.jbankfin.2021.106357
Volume
135
Pages
106357
Language
en
Sources
openalex crossref bibtex:phds-export.bib

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