I have several ideas (with no scientific basis, just observation) on what drives the behavior. Old people today lived through some much leaner times than we ar

I have several ideas (with no scientific basis, just observation) on what drives the behavior. Old people today lived through some much leaner times than we are accustomed to, so having easily accessible cash is appealing. They don't care to deal with investment complexity. And they have this kind of money in a checking account because it just accumulated through routine saving over the course of 50 years; it's habit. Plus, their situations are different from a typical younger person today. All of the folks in my family who keep large amounts of cash in their checking account are mostly not relying their own savings to live. They all have pensions and social security, they're not pulling from an IRA at this point. They've never had the habit of directly investing in their own retirement.