2020

Financial product complexity has increased substantially in the past few decades and recent evidence suggests that older adults are entering retirement with more debt than previous generations. This project will examine how cognitive ability and cognitive aging are related to…

Dementia, a chronic, degenerative disease characterized by deteriorating cognition, represents a particularly aggressive threat to older adults’ financial well-being.  Dementia-linked adverse financial events have the potential to deteriorate retirement savings, increasing financial strain and potentially demand for Medicaid and Supplemental…

Long-term care is one of the most significant risks Americans face in late life. About a third of Americans older than age 70 need help with Activities of Daily Living, requiring either a nursing home or community- and home-based care.…

The proposed research will identify the causes and disability consequences of prescription opioid and benzodiazepine use among Americans older than 50, including the role of state prescription drug policies in the use and effects of these drugs. These drug classes…

While there is some research on the prevalence of bridge employment and partial retirement behavior from the worker perspective, we have no evidence about firms’ ability and willingness to accommodate worker demands for job amenities as they transition into retirement.…

Household wealth inequality in the U.S. has been rising, but those measures do not include Social Security. For individual Social Security participants, Social Security Wealth (SSW) is equal to the present value of future benefits less the present value of…

Some studies have raised concerns that many households reach retirement with limited financial resources. The behavioral economics literature posits that procrastination may be an important explanation. We fielded a survey in the RAND American Life Panel, asking respondents ages 60…