Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What The Stock Market Decline Means For The Financial Security And Retirement Choices Of The Near-Retirement Population, Alan L. Gustman, Thomas L. Steinmeier, Nahid Tabatabai

Dartmouth Scholarship

This paper investigates the effect of the current recession on the retirement age population. Data from the Health and Retirement Study suggest that those approaching retirement age (early boomers ages 53 to 58 in 2006) have only 15.2 percent of their wealth in stocks, held directly or in defined contribution plans or IRAs. Their vulnerability to a stock market decline is limited by the high value of their Social Security wealth, which represents over a quarter of the total household wealth of the early boomers. In addition, their defined contribution plans remain immature, so their defined benefit plans represent sixty …