Cohort Differences in Retirement Expectations and Realizations

This chapter compares retirement expectations, retirement patterns, and expectations of future work
across different cohorts of the Health and Retirement Study, including the new cohort of Baby Boomers
currently in their late 50’s. We find that the Boomers are more strongly attached to the labor force as they
enter their retirement years than were earlier cohorts at the same age. Compared to the preceding birth
cohort, they expect to retire nearly one year later, they are 14 percent more likely to expect to be working
full-time at age 65, and they are 21 percent more likely to expect to work in the future if they are not
currently working. We find that these differences are not entirely explained by cohort differences in
socioeconomic status, pension incentives, demographics, or health. We conclude that the Baby Boomers
may have stronger preferences for work than previous cohorts.