Digital finance and retirement planning: The role of information cost reduction and trust enhancement channels

Abstract

With the rapid development of digitalization, retirement decisions are increasingly being mediated by digital finance platforms, which help individuals in effectively managing and planning their retirement. Existing literature primarily focuses on the impacts of financial literacy, risk attitudes, and awareness of retirement goals. Using data from the 2015 China Household Finance Survey, we investigate the effect of digital finance on household retirement planning. Our analysis reveals that digital payment lowers the acquisition cost of pension finance information, whereas digital wealth management increases financial trust, encouraging involvement in self-funding retirement planning. Digital payment bolsters a proactive approach to self-funding retirement planning and simplifies the conversion of commercial endowment insurance planning into tangible measures. These findings offer new insights into how digital financial instruments can help alleviate the supply–demand pressure on pensions and major implications for the development of the individual retirement account system.