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Choosing when to claim Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits is an important decision for older Americans' financial health. While previous work has examined heterogeneity in claiming decisions, relatively little research has systematically tested the psychological factors that predict early or delayed SSA claiming or the effectiveness of theory-driven interventions meant to help with the claiming decision. A preregistered experiment and three replications examined the extent to which intended claiming age is a function of theory-driven interventions, individual difference measures, and relevant interactions between interventions and individual differences. The interventions that increased intended claiming age were those that suggest that delayed claiming may be the right choice (i.e., injunctive norm, information about the commonality of regret), those that highlight the financial benefits from delayed claiming (i.e., gains framing, focus on benefits to the future self), and those that guide preference construction through self-reflection (i.e., focus on right-tail longevity, reason generation). In addition, intertemporal discounting, subjective life expectancy, and perceived ownership of SSA benefits predicted intended claiming age. This research advances our understanding of which retirees will decide to claim earlier or later and offers practical insights for policy makers, financial planners, and consumer finance organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The authors investigate why only a minority of retirees follow the recommendations of economists and financial journalists and delay claiming Social Security old-age benefits until at least their Full Retirement Age. The authors argue that low levels of savings and a reluctance to draw down financial assets contribute to a reluctance to delay Social Security claiming after retirement. The authors apply the numerical optimization simulation model of Sun and Webb (2010), using their code, to show the effects on optimal claiming age of longer life expectancy, lower real interest rates, and differing levels of liquidity constraints. The authors find that lower real interest rates and increased life expectancy increase the optimal claiming past age 65, but only for those not liquidity constrained (men) and not already at the highest claiming age (women). The optimal claiming age for people with a high level of liquidity ranges from 68 to 70, while for people with a low level of liquidity, it ranges from 65 to 66. The authors' empirical work supports these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Derecho de la Seguridad Social, Laborum is the property of Ediciones Laborum S.L. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Derecho de la Seguridad Social, Laborum is the property of Ediciones Laborum S.L. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Facultad de Ciencias Economicas: Investigacion y Reflexion is the property of Revista Facultad de Ciencias Economicas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ghana's elderly population represents about 6.7% of the national populace. They comprise persons aged sixty years and above, including retirees. The main source of income for some of these individuals, particularly those who worked in the formal sector is the monthly pension they receive as compensation for contributing to Ghana's public pension scheme known as the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) while they were working. However, some beneficiaries of the scheme have raised concerns about the inadequacy of the pension income. Old age is accompanied by other social, economic, and health issues that tend to be detrimental to one's well-being. In this study, the survival strategies adopted by SSNIT pensioners to assuage the challenges they encounter, mainly due to inadequate pensions were explored. The mixed-methods research design was employed to gather data from 437 respondents. Whereas the quantitative findings were analyzed via the Stata software, the framework approach was adopted to analyze the qualitative data. The majority (78.7%) of the pensioners indicated that their pensions were insufficient to meet their needs. In their quest to address the challenges confronting them, the pensioners either adopted survival strategies they considered suitable or resorted to other non-prioritized coping mechanisms perceived to be relevant only in times of urgent necessity. Based on the findings of the study, some recommendations for policy and practice were presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'triple lock' mechanism governing the uprating of state pensions is often framed as a transfer from workers to mostly well‐off pensioners, driven by the latter's outsize political influence. Others note that pensioner poverty remains widespread and that the UK state pension remains relatively low compared to other advanced economies. Both perspectives—but especially the first—often omit the historical context and, particularly, the post‐1979 steady fall in the value of the state pension as a proportion of earnings and the resulting increasing dependence on means‐tested benefits. The key insight of the Turner report was that failure to reverse this trend would further erode any incentive to save for lower‐ and middle‐income earners. Reforms that solely focus on the short‐term impacts on current pensioners, rich and poor, risk long‐term damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]