VRI Survey Overview
The Vanguard Research Initiative (VRI) is a collaboration of the Vanguard Group, the University of Michigan, and New York University. VRI surveys are administered via the internet to a panel of Vanguard clients to gather complementary information to Vanguard's administrative data. The panel was chosen by inviting Vanguard account holders fulfilling the following criteria:
- Over 55 years old
- Have a domestic address
- No immediate record of a Vanguard annuity purchase
- Hold between $10,000 and $5 million in assets with Vanguard
- Have a valid email registered with Vanguard
- Have logged on in the past six months
The sample was stratified such that each age group above 55 will be adequately represented, as well as singles. The sample is also divided between individual accounts and employer-sponsored accounts.
The initial cohort of 9,000 respondents joined the VRI in 2013 with Survey 1. A new cohort of 3,700 respondents joined the VRI in 2016 with Survey 5. The original cohort was also given Survey 5.
For information about each survey, including questionnaires and live demonstration links, please click below:
| Survey | Field period begins (Pilot/Production) | Theme | Main Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey 1 | June 2013 August 2013 |
Wealth and portfolios | Demographics and employment Income, social security, pensions, and disability benefits; Housing assets Financial assets: investment, savings, and retirement accounts |
| Survey 2 | October 2013 January 2014 |
Annuity and long-term care | Demographics and pensions updates Bequest plans Long-term care insurance Expectations on longevity, long-term care, annuity purchases Hypothetical annuity products SSQs: risk aversion, bequest motives, long-term care, and public-care aversion |
| Survey 3 | May 2014 August 2014 |
Family, bequests, and transfers | Demographics updates Family inventory Major past expenses and future expense expectations (self and spouse, descendants and comparable other, and predecessors) Charitable giving expectations SSQs: risk aversion revisited (loss aversion version), bequest revisited, inter-vivos transfers |
| Survey 4 | August 2015 October 2015 |
Work and transition to retirement | Work history: Career and bridge jobs Job separation Job search Conditional retirement expectations SSQs: Job flexibility; preferred jobs and search for opportunities; reservation wages |
| Survey 5 | August 2016 (pilot and production merged, new cohort) | Wealth and Portfolios | Demographics and employment Income, social security, pensions, and disability benefits; Housing assets Financial assets: investment, savings, and retirement accounts |
| Survey 6 | January 2018 March 2018 |
Work and transition to retirement | Work history: Career and bridge jobs Job separation Job search Conditional retirement expectations SSQs: preferences for working fewer hours and retirement decisions |
| Survey 7 | December 2019 July 2020 |
Cognitive decline, agency, and financial decisionmaking | Demographics updates Subjective expectations about cognitive decline Quality of agents Optimal timing of transferring the control to the agent; likelihood and cost of missing the optimal timing Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial and long-term care planning |