The Decision to Retire: Research-Based Recommendations for Individuals and Employers

The decision to retire has life-altering implications for finances, health, and well-being in later life. It is clear that advancing our understanding of the retirement decision process requires a holistic and integrative perspective that considers factors in all three domains.

The goal of this paper is to present a systematic framework for organizing, evaluating, and understanding the numerous factors involved in retirement decisions. This paper is designed primarily for professionals and practitioners, and it focuses on practical advice for improving the retirement decision process.

A companion paper describes the 3D Model of retirement decisions in more detail, and provides details on existing studies of the various factors that influence the decision to retire through a formal literature search.  Read more