The aging population is intensifying, and solving the problem of elderly care is urgent. This article is based on CHFS (2019) survey data, and empirical research has found that commercial pension insurance significantly promotes households' allocation of risky financial assets. The mechanism is tested using household risk perception and investment risk preference as mediating variables. In addition, through heterogeneity testing, it was found that the positive effect of commercial pension insurance on the allocation of risky financial assets is more significant in rural households with household registration, two sets of housing, and households in the northeast.

The aging population is expanding globally, and addressing the challenges of elderly care is urgent. Using the 2019 China Household Finance Survey data, this study finds that commercial pension insurance significantly promotes households’ allocation of risky financial assets. We test the mechanisms using household risk perception and investment risk preference as mediating variables. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the positive effect of commercial pension insurance on risky financial asset allocation is more significant in rural households with household registration, those with two sets of housing, and households in the northeast. The research findings of this article aim to promote the continuous improvement of China’s elderly care system and provide important empirical evidence for the formulation of relevant policies.

With market-oriented reforms in the economy, the Chinese government has promoted the development of risky financial markets, but evidence on the influence of social trust on risky financial market participation is scarce. Using three-wave longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Survey; and lagged variable, instrument variable, and fixed-effects models to address the endogeneity issues; we investigated social trust’s influence on risky financial market participation. We also estimated the effects of social trust by age, education, sex, and urban/rural resident groups. We found that social trust positively affected the probability of holding risky financial assets and their shares, however its effects were insignificant when addressing unobservable individual heterogeneity. The positive effect of social trust was greater for the youth, the highly educated, women, rural residents and high-income groups than their counterparts.