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How is economic hardship avoided by those retiring before the Social Security entitlement age?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2014

KEVIN MILLIGAN
KEVIN MILLIGAN*
Affiliation:
Vancouver School of Economics, University of British ColumbiaNational Bureau of Economic Research (e-mail: kevin.milligan@ubc.ca)
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Abstract

Governments around the world are reacting to extended lifespans and troubled pension finances by increasing the age of retirement benefit entitlement. This paper studies those who retire before the age of full pension entitlement in the USA using data drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. The major finding is that four out of five people who have zero earnings at pre-entitlement ages are able to find a way to lift their incomes over the poverty line. For men, pension and annuity income are important while for women, spousal income helps most to get them over the line.

Keywords

J14I32Social Securityretirementpensionspoverty
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Pension Economics & Finance , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , October 2014 , pp. 420 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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