THE EFFEC THE EFFECTS OF RE S OF RETIREMEN TIREMENT EDUCA T EDUCATION, PRIMING AND TION, PRIMING AND PRESENTATION ORDER ON WEAL TION ORDER ON WEALTH MANAGEMENT OUTCOMES

Over the past two decades the burden of funding one’s retirement income has been shifting from employers to employees. As a result, many employees have found themselves without the necessary replacement income at retirement and either continue to work or adjust their lifestyle to meet their income level. The scope of the problem has been described as a national concern. One potential solution is to provide individuals with retirement education to assist them when making retirement planning decisions. A significant amount of academic research has been conducted in this area, however, several recent meta-analyses have concluded mixed results about the outcomes of retirement education. Other considerations for this potential solution is to explore how to stimulate an individual’s retirement self-efficacy, retirement goal clarity, and retirement goal clarity intentions since they may influence an individual’s economic preparation, also known as replacement income, for retirement. The central research problem this study addresses is how retirement education and financial mastery experience priming influences retirement self-efficacy, retirement goal clarity, and retirement goal clarity intentions—individually and combined—and also it will test whether the presentation order of these treatments matter. Lastly, a novel estate planning measure will be explored.