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We study how increases in the U.S. Social Security full retirement age (FRA) affect benefit-claiming behavior and retirement behavior separately. Using long panels of Social Security administrative data, we implement complementary research designs of a traditional cohort analysis and a regression-discontinuity design. We find that while claiming ages strongly and immediately shift in response to increases in the FRA, retirement ages exhibit persistent "stickiness" at the old FRA of 65. We use several strategies to explore the likely mechanisms behind the stickiness in retirement, and we find suggestive evidence that employers play a role in workers' responses to the FRA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Hearing and vision difficulties are some of the most common deficits experienced by older adults. Having either visual or hearing difficulties increases the risk of comorbidity, disability, and poor quality of life. So far, however, few studies have examined the association between vision and hearing difficulties on life expectancy without activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental ADL (IADL) limitations (LEWL). Methods Data came from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the Health and Retirement Study in the United States from 2002 to 2013. The outcome was defined as reporting 2+ limitations with ADL/IADL. Life expectancy was estimated by discrete-time multistate life table models for hearing and vision difficulties separately as well as for combined vision and hearing difficulties by sex and age. Results Thirteen percent of men in England and the United States had ADL/IADL limitations, whereas, for women, it was 16% and 19% in England and the United States. At all ages, either vision or hearing difficulty was associated with shorter LEWL compared to no difficulties. Dual sensory difficulty (vision and hearing) reduced LEWL by up to 12 years in both countries. At the ages of 50 and 60 in England, hearing difficulty was associated with fewer years lived without ADL/IADL limitations than vision difficulty. In contrast, in the United States, vision difficulty led to fewer years lived without ADL/IADL limitations than hearing difficulty. Conclusions The implementation of strategies to reduce the prevalence and incidence of vision and hearing difficulties has the potential to increase the number of years spent without ADL/IADL limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A promising approach to pension policy preferences focuses on the influence of policy related information. We advance this research programme by examining the impact of information about future pension benefits, including whether information effects occur through priming, learning or both. Drawing on a novel, split-sample survey experiment in the US, Germany and Spain, we examine the impact of information on forecasted pension replacement rates for 2040 on pension policy attitudes. Findings indicate that the information treatment increases support for the two outcomes considered: (i) increases in the pensionable age and (ii) greater spending on pensions relative to other social programmes. Analyses of heterogeneous treatment effects accounting for prior beliefs of participants show that information effects occur both through priming and learning. The study concludes that hard, non-partisan information increases support for reforms that foster the financial sustainability of pension systems, although the scope of information effects depends on contextual conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico and the United States both face rapid population aging as well as older populations with high poverty rates. Among the most vulnerable populations of retirement age in either nation are Mexican immigrants to the United States. This work uses data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study and the Mexican Health and Aging Study to assess retirement decisions among persons born in Mexico and working in either nation as well as such decisions by non-Hispanic Whites in the United States. Social security system incentives matter for the retirement of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. but not for return-migrants in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the benefits of purchasing a community spouse Medicaid-compliant annuity (MCA) for retirement age individuals and couples in the U.S. Topics include an increase in the number of retirees in the U.S. in 2020 and the expectation that all baby boomers will reach their retirement age by 2030, a discussion of the public and private categories of paying for long-term care under MCA, and several requirements that must be met for an annuity to be considered Medicaid compliant.

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Individuals in search of a free retirement calculator need not look further than Google for a large field from which to choose. These calculators can serve as a valuable tool for those thinking about the big picture of retirement. Since these calculators are an integral part of the retirement planning process, there is a need to evaluate them and create a set of standardized criteria to assess their validity for a given client. The users of these tools are average financial planning clients, but the beneficiaries of this analysis will be financial planners because they will be better able to understand their clients' thinking. This paper will further educate planners on common calculators their clients may utilize, while also addressing which calculators best suit which clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the Social Security claiming decision (when to first claim benefits) reflects a wide range of personal factors, this paper examines only the case of an individual who will retire (or has already retired) at age 62 and has sufficient resources to meet desired after-tax spending without relying on early claiming of Social Security benefits. The analysis in this paper finds much of the previous literature is biased against early claiming of benefits because it uses inappropriately low discount or earnings rates. Treating the claiming decision as an investment (present value) decision, with proper consideration of historical market returns, inflation, and current mortality rates, men should generally begin to collect what benefits they can, subject to the earnings test, as soon as they can. At higher market return expectations, women are also better off claiming benefits as soon as possible, but at normal or lower returns they are better off waiting to claim at full retirement age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of a 65-year-old who is not about to retire, financial service professionals who help their clients weather life's financial challenges play a valuable role. Helping them make and execute financial plans, preparing them to make adjustments when necessary, and encouraging them to be patient and persistent in reaching their financial goals all play an important part in keeping them on the right path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about the changing demographics in the United States and the aging of the neurosurgical workforce exist. Both the importance and inherent risk of surgical responsibilities suggest that thought be given to whether workloads should change later in surgeons' careers. We sought to assess current neurosurgeons' expectations concerning their late-stage careers. A survey was sent to 3317 U.S. board-certified neurosurgeons. It was designed to assess surgeons' perceptions of call and operative responsibilities in the later stages of their careers. Statistical analyses were completed in R version 3.6.1, with an alpha set to 0.05. Six-hundred and fifty-nine neurosurgeons completed the questionnaire. Seventy-seven percent believed that the call burden should decrease later in practice, and 66% planned to decrease their own call burden later in their career. The most common age range for planned retirement was 65 to 69 years (36%), followed by 70+ years (33%). Most (67%) believed that there should not be a mandatory age to stop operating. More recent year of residency completion was negatively associated with the belief that call burden should decrease at older age groups and positively associated with support for a mandatory age to stop operating as well as an earlier retirement age. This study suggests that neurosurgeons have differing views on how workloads should change later in their careers. Younger neurosurgeons support an earlier decrease in workload or even a policy-mandated stop to operating after a certain age. These results may give insight into future trends and turnover in neurosurgery and provide a valuable tool to help practices anticipate workforce changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many preretiree households seek the help of financial professionals when they are nearing retirement with questions such as, "Do we have enough savings?" "When should we retire?" "Should we start taking Social Security?" This article summarizes important Social Security claiming rules and suggests that many retiree couples could benefit from delayed claiming. This effect is quantified by examining retirement timing strategies using a simulated forecast of household cash flow needs throughout the retirement period incorporating postretirement risks, including longevity, inflation, investment, health, and long-term care through the use of Monte Carlo simulation. Although most individuals today make their initial claims for Social Security before the normal retirement age, the simulation results show that typical U.S. households have too little wealth to do so successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When individuals still have employment opportunities and the desire to work, many factors should be considered before making the decision to begin Social Security retirement benefits. The decision of when to begin benefits can have a major impact on an individual's total percentage of income replacement in retirement and directly affect the worker's standard of living, spousal benefits, benefits of other dependents, and the benefits of the worker's eventual survivors. This article examines the economic value of delaying Social Security retirement benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many individuals, the most critical decision affecting Social Security retirement planning is when to begin receiving benefits. For married couples expecting to utilize the Social Security spousal benefit, early retirement may have a major impact on the lifetime benefits received. This article examines Social Security spousal benefit considerations in early retirement and performs a present value analysis of starting benefits at age 62 compared to delaying benefits to full retirement age. While more monthly retirement checks are received when starting early, based upon existing fife expectancies and the permanent reduction in benefits for early retirement, the analysis indicates that delaying retirement has a greater present value for married couples who will be receiving the spousal benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faculty working well beyond retirement age has become an issue in higher education that includes increased expenditures in benefits and salaries, hindrance of hiring minorities and women, and teaching effectiveness. The effects of aging faculty contribute to the factors in student retention. A few factors in student success involve affordability, which the cost of rising tuition has been an issue for student retention. A factor in the rising cost of college is faculty salaries. Another factor in student retention is the faculty's ability to maintain the changing learning needs of students. Furthermore, research has indicated that minority student' best succeed when taught by minority faculty. This paper will explore these three issues regarding aging faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the determinant of planned retirement age in the U.S. The researchers found that Social Security provides a strong inducement for retiring, since its early retirement provisions were originally designed to cushion income declines of individuals who were forced by poor health or some condition to retire early. The results indicate that health influences retirement decisions. Actual and planned retirement age differs in unexpected events which could cause individuals to modify their retirement plans and change their actual retirement age. The findings suggest that 58 to 63 year-old individuals make consistent plans for retirement, while younger individuals may or may not be so provident.

From time to time, proposals have been made to change the method of financing of old-age, and survivors insurance, presumably without modification of other elements such as the eligibility requirements or benefit-earnings relationships. In this article, the author discusses the extent to which the method of financing and other elements of a system of old-age pensions are interrelated. Some current proposals for modifications in the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance law are then critically evaluated in the light of that discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article refers to a book by news commentator Tom Brokaw, "Boom! Voices of the Sixties," and profiles a segment of the baby boom generation. In the book, Brokaw uses interviews to document the social, economic, and political changes during the 1950s and 1960s that transformed the American psyche. The Class of '68 refers to the oldest group of baby boomers who will reach the retirement age of 62 in 2008. A study by MetLife Mature Market Institute found that this one-year age segment is conservative, similar to the preceding "silent generation," and representative of the "Silent Majority." Statistics relating to family life, income, and retirement plans are given. Implications for the financial service industry are mentioned.

In this paper, I study how pay-as-you-go pension systems of the notional defined contribution type can be designed such that they remain financially stable in the presence of increasing life expectancy. For this to happen three crucial parameters must be set in an appropriate way: the notional interest rate, the adjustment rate and the annuity conversion factor. I show that there exist two main approaches to implement a stable system. The first uses period-specific annuitization and indexation rates that correct for labor force increases, which are only due to rises in the retirement age which are necessary to ‘neutralize’ the increase in life expectancy. The second approach uses cohort-specific annuitization and indexation rates that are larger than in a stationary situation. This is due to the fact that a continuously increasing life expectancy leads to higher internal rates of return that can be passed on via the indexation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the role of lawyers and legal scholars in legal scholarship. Topics discussed include lawyers have a major role to play in ensuring that statutes are interpreted as fairly as possible, lawyers can craft workable policies that meet the dual demands of justice and practicality and rising inequality in the U.S.. It mentions the rise in retirement age for privileged workers and problems associated with Social Security.

Hispanics constitute the nation's largest minority group, and the Census Bureau projects the Hispanic share of both the overall and the retirement-age U.S. population to increase substantially in the next three decades. Compared with other racial/ethnic groups, Hispanic adults have the lowest rates of high school and college graduation, are more concentrated in low-wage jobs, and have lower incomes and health insurance coverage. However, Hispanics' life expectancy is greater than that of other population groups. These trends underscore the importance of effective outreach to Hispanics to improve their understanding of Social Security and to enhance their retirement security overall. In this article, we examine Social Security literacy and preferred ways of receiving information about the program. We assemble focus groups of three ancestries (Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban) and of English and Spanish speakers. We report the differences and the similarities in the results among these ancestry and primary-language subgroups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The science and engineering workforce has aged rapidly in recent years, both in absolute terms and relative to the workforce as a whole. This is a potential concern if the large number of older scientists crowds out younger scientists, making it difficult for them to establish independent careers. In addition, scientists are believed to be most creative earlier in their careers, so the aging of the workforce may slow the pace of scientific progress. We develop and simulate a demographic model, which shows that a substantial majority of recent aging is a result of the aging of the large baby boom cohort of scientists. However, changes in behavior have also played a significant role, in particular, a decline in the retirement rate of older scientists, induced in part by the elimination of mandatory retirement in universities in 1994. Furthermore, the age distribution of the scientific workforce is still adjusting. Current retirement rates and other determinants of employment in science imply a steadystate mean age 2.3 y higher than the 2008 level of 48.6. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The February 8, 2017 issue of the journal "Issue Brief" by the Employee Benefit Research Institute is presented. Topics include preferences for partial annuitization, annuities associated with age of retirees and relationship between savings and preference for annuities in the U.S. Also discussed is the decline of defined benefit (DB) pension plans in the country.

The article discusses the issue regarding the workforce development in the U.S. and mentions the government's efforts to provide opportunities for older people who want to work at retirement ages.

Because of the increasing number of older workers, it is important to develop models of work-related constructs for this population. The present article developed a model surrounding occupational self-efficacy, testing its relation to other factors (e.g., intrinsic job motivation), predictors (e.g., self-perceptions of aging), and outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction). Employed adults of ages 50 and older (n = 313) were recruited via organizations and social media sites. Study participants (M = 59.7, SD = 6.1, range = 50–78) volunteered to fill out an Internet survey. Occupational self-efficacy predicted job satisfaction, and intrinsic job motivation fully mediated this relationship. More negative self-perceptions of aging predicted poorer occupational self-efficacy. Occupational self-efficacy also predicted life satisfaction. Expected retirement age and job performance were unrelated to occupational self-efficacy. These findings may inform workplace interventions that seek to maintain or increase older worker job and life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Security retirement benefits were first introduced in 1935 as a financial safety net for a large and rapidly growing older American population. The program was intended to be economically self-sustaining, but population aging and rising life expectancies threaten the program's solvency. The 1983 Social Security Amendments mandated that the full retirement age increase to 67 by the year 2027. In this essay, we present evidence demonstrating that the rate of improvement in life extension at older ages accelerated after 1983. If the 1935 ratio of working years to retired years is maintained, early and full retirement ages of 66.5 and 69.4, respectively, were justified in 2009. Additional delays in the age of eligibility beyond those currently in effect would place significant financial burdens on individuals with lower life expectancies, the poor and near-poor, and the very old, and--absent additional reform--would exacerbate existing unequal access to entitlements within the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]