Pension wealth derived variables user guide (wave 2-5)

This document describes how to use the derived pension wealth variables for ELSA Wave 2-5. More information on the derivation of these variables and all the areas discussed below is available in Banks, Emmerson and Tetlow (2005), Estimating Pension Wealth of ELSA Respondents, IFS Working Paper, WP 05/09. The pension wealth derived variables give the discounted present value of the stream of income that an individual will receive from their pensions between starting to draw these pensions and death, under various alternative scenarios. These variables are derived from information on individuals' current and past circumstances from the Work and Pensions module1 of ELSA Wave 1 along with various assumptions about past and future behaviour.