Redefining Retirement: How Will Boomers Fare?
Brigitte Madrian, Olivia S. Mitchell, and Beth J. Soldo
Abstract
As the leading edge of the “Baby Boom” generation in the United States reaches sixty years of age, members of this unusually large cohort born between 1946 and 1966 are poised to redefine retirement — just as they have restructured educational, housing, and labor markets previously. Looking ahead, their numbers and energy are sure to have a major impact on national pensions, healthcare, and social safety nets. This book notes that “Boomers” will be better off than their predecessors in many ways, having benefited from the long run-up in housing prices, dramatic improvements in healthcare, and ... More
As the leading edge of the “Baby Boom” generation in the United States reaches sixty years of age, members of this unusually large cohort born between 1946 and 1966 are poised to redefine retirement — just as they have restructured educational, housing, and labor markets previously. Looking ahead, their numbers and energy are sure to have a major impact on national pensions, healthcare, and social safety nets. This book notes that “Boomers” will be better off than their predecessors in many ways, having benefited from the long run-up in housing prices, dramatic improvements in healthcare, and the expanding economy. On the other hand, the generation's sheer size will surely squeeze resources and require new approaches to retirement risk management. On average, the Boomers are in better financial and physical health than prior cohorts, and they can be anticipated to fare better than current retirees in absolute terms. Yet the distribution of retiree income and wealth will be less equal than in earlier years, and in relative terms, many Boomers will be less well off than their forebears. The chapters in this book use many invaluable models and datasets, including the incomparable Health and Retirement Study (HRS) which affords unique insights into the status of mature adults surveyed at the same age and hence same point in their life cycles, but at three different time periods. Chapter contributors offer new evidence about prospects for health and income during retirement, as well as pensions and housing equity, health, portfolio allocation, and financial literacy.
Keywords:
Baby Boom,
pensions,
healthcare,
social security,
retirement risk management,
retiree income,
wealth distribution,
Health and Retirement Study,
housing equity,
financial literacy
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2007 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199230778 |
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2007 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199230778.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Brigitte Madrian, editor
Professor of Public Policy and Corporate Management in the Aetna Chair at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Author Webpage
Olivia S. Mitchell, editor
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor of Insurance and Risk Management, the Executive Director of the Pension Research Council, and the Director of the Boettner Center on Pensions and Retirement Research at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Author Webpage
Beth J. Soldo, editor
Distinguished Senior Scholar, Department of Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
Author Webpage
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