Parental retirement timing: the role of unanticipated events in the lives of adult children

Marina Miller (), Christopher R. Tamborini and Gayle L. Reznik
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Marina Miller: University of California, San Diego
Christopher R. Tamborini: Social Security Administration
Gayle L. Reznik: Social Security Administration

Journal of Population Economics, 2018, vol. 31, issue 3, No 3, 747-781

Abstract: Abstract Although anecdotal evidence of older parents postponing retirement to financially support their grown children is common, the empirical evidence is scarce. In this paper, we use data from the 1992 to 2010 waves of the Health and Retirement Study to identify a broad set of pivotal events in the lives of adult children. First, we determine whether these events affect subsequent financial transfers from parents to children over multiple years. Next, we determine whether those events that result in subsequent transfers also shift parental retirement expectations. Finally, we quantify the impact of the unexpected children’s events on retirement realizations, moving beyond the correlational analyses in prior literature. Our findings show that a child’s move out of a parental home decreases both expectations and realizations of working after age 65. The magnitude of this effect is similar to that of an own health shock experienced during pre-retirement years.

Keywords: Retirement; Retirement expectations; Labor force exit; Financial support; Co-residence; J26; J14; D84; J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-018-0698-8

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