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2013 Conference

April 10–12, 2013

The Benson Hotel, Portland, Oregon

This section lists poster sessions as well as concurrent sessions by day, time, and room. Concurrent sessions have multiple presentations. You may search by title, author names, or keyword. A Schedule-at-a-Glance is posted on the Website and will provide the overview. This is the detail.

Morbibity, Mortality, and Money: The Link Between Health Events and Retirement Preparation

Thursday, April 11, 2013 at 9:45 AM–11:00 AM PDT
Oxford Room (Breakout Session C)
Major Area of Focus

Financial Services

Secondary area of focus

Health

Short Abstract

Previous research has illuminated the connection between a person’s health to later-life decisions about whether and when to retire, but few studies have addressed the possible influence of own-health and family-health histories on earlier aspects of retirement planning. In this exploratory study, we examine the relationships between personal and family health history and retirement preparation activities with tests for the possible mediating effects of risk tolerance and subjective life expectancy.  Using unique data on 1,005 survey respondents that have been linked to their personal and familial health histories, we examine four retirement preparation activities: (1) how respondents assess their level of financial knowledge, (2) whether respondents have met recently with a professional financial advisor, (3) whether respondents have calculated the financial amount needed to meet retirement needs, and (4) how they have allocated any retirement savings across stocks, bonds, and other assets. We find that both own-health history and parental longevity are more predictive of the knowledge/advice dimensions of retirement preparation than either calculating retirement needs or allocating retirement savings. We also find very little evidence of mediation effects.  Thus, identifying the mechanisms by which health history is connected to retirement preparation remains a topic for future research.

Corresponding Author

[photo]
Robert N Mayer, PhD, University of Utah
Job Title

Professor

City & State (or Province & Country)

Salt Lake City, UT

Additional Authors

[photo]
Dr. Cathleen D Zick, University of Utah
Job Title

Professor

City & State (or Province & Country)

Salt Lake City, UT

[photo]
Dr. Ken R Smith, University of Utah
Job Title

Professor

City & State (or Province & Country)

Salt Lake City, UT

[photo]
Ms. Lorayne B Taylor, University of Utah
Job Title

Graduate Student

City & State (or Province & Country)

Salt Lake City, UT

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