Housing wealth, bequests, risk aversion, and the elderly

• Positive housing wealth shocks increase expected bequests among the elderly. • We find heterogenous bequest effects based on risk aversion, health, and planning horizons. • We find the elderly are more likely to engage in estate planning after a housing wealth shock. We find plausibly exogenous wealth shocks lead to an increase in the expected likelihood of leaving a large bequest for elderly households with lower baseline wealth, health, and risk aversion, and in increased likelihood of estate planning.