The problem of aging population in China has become increasingly prominent, and the saving rate of elderly families remains high，which cannot be explained by the standard life cycle hypothesis．Based on the survey data of family finance in China，this paper analyzes the phenomenon of high saving rate of elderly families from the perspective of heritage motivation．The results show that the heritage motivation of Chinese elderly families significantly increases the household saving rate，and the heritage motivation significantly increases the level of elderly household saving rate by about 5%—10%． Further study found that compared with urban families，heritage motivation has a significant impact on rural household savings． Compared with high wealth families，heritage motivation significantly promotes the level of savings rate of low and middle wealth families，which suggests“getting old before getting rich”makes the elderly families have stronger heritage motivation to save．For the children with different living conditions，heritage motivation significantly improves the saving rate of the elderly families whose children work outside the system and whose children’s education level is low，which indicates that the elderly families in China have stronger heritage motivation of altruism．This paper provides a new perspective to understand the high savings of Chinese elderly families and can provide a reference for relevant government departments to formulate policies．
