Many people do not understand the concepts of life expectancy and longevity risk, potentially
leading them to under-save for retirement or to not purchase longevity insurance, which in turn
could reduce wellbeing at older ages. We investigate alternative ways to increase the salience of
both concepts, allowing us to assess whether these change peoples’ perceptions and financial
decision making. Using randomly-assigned vignettes providing subjects with information about
either life expectancy or longevity, we show that merely prompting people to think about financial
decisions changes their perceptions regarding subjective survival probabilities. Moreover, this
information also boosts respondents’ interest in saving and demand for longevity insurance. In
particular, longevity information influences both subjective survival probabilities and financial
decisions, while life expectancy information influences only annuity choices. We provide some
evidence that many people are simply unaware of longevity risk.