What are People Doing to Prepare for Retirement? Structural, Personal, Work, and Family Predictors of Planning
Year: 2004
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: This dissertation examines non-retirees' financial expectations and plans for retirement and compares them to those of current retirees.Outcomes included financial knowledge, retirement age, anticipated sources of income in retirement, age financial preparations were initiated, and the propensity to save.A model of financial planning was tested from a life-course framework, which outlined how social structural, work, family, personal, and income variables predict the expectation and planning outcomes.The lifecourse model also considered how socio-historical circumstances may have differentially shaped the retirement plans of six cohorts.Data were collected with mailed surveys from 404 randomly selected individuals living in the Cleveland, Ohio area.Respondents were between the ages of 19 and 96 and had wide ranging labor force experiences, financial resources, and retirement plans.While many young people in particular expressed low levels of confidence in the future viability of the Social Security system, a majority of all age groups anticipate they will rely heavily on Social Security income in retirement.The youngest cohorts, however, are more likely than Baby Boomers and current retirees to expect to rely largely on their own assets in retirement.Three-quarters of respondents have begun making financial preparations for retirement, including over half of the respondents in their twenties, suggesting retirement planning is a long-term process.Results demonstrate that Respondent letter: *Personalized -respondent's name included, hand signature *Printed on letterhead with university name *Enticing first paragraph *Include the importance of the study in the letter *Describe how the respondent was chosen and who is being asked to participate *Ensure survey confidentiality *Ensure voluntary participation but emphasize the importance of each person's participation *Indicate how the respondent can return the questionnaire and can reach the researcher *Make the letter easy to understand *Keep the letter short Postage and Mailing: *Use stamps over bulk mail and business reply mail *Use a commemorative or pretty stamp over a "regular" stamp *Provide a return envelope that is stamped *Hand address the initial envelope to personalize it and encourage participation Incentive: *Offer an incentive/token of appreciation in advance Reminders: *Include three reminders at 2-week intervals (the 1 st and 3 rd mailing include a copy of the questionnaire and a return envelope) Questionnaire: *Professional looking *Short in length *Clear instructions *Easy to read font type and size *Questions are consecutively numbered *Questionnaire is formatted as a booklet *The first set of questions should be interesting and should relate to the study objectives described in the letter *Questions and response options should be concise and easy to understand
Author: Amy Dan
Institution: Case Western Reserve University
Language: English
Subfield: Accounting
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2508636331