The study investigated whether older workers chose partial or full retirement instead of full-time work. Partial or full retirement status was modeled as a combination of self-reported retirement status and change in number of hours worked. The results of multinomial logistic regression using data from the first and fifth waves of the Health and Retirement Study collected in 1992 and 2000 showed that age and gender had similar effects on the likelihood of partial and full retirement. Full retirement was also influenced by investment assets, pensions, employee health insurance, and poor health. The likelihood of partial retirement was also influenced by self-employment, chronic health conditions, and education. Workers who seek partial retirement need working conditions that allow them to make this choice.KEY WORDS: health and retirement study; multinomial logistic regression; retirement.As the population ages and the number of retirees increases, policymakers are concerned about the ability of the economy to support a larger number of retirees with the resources produced by a smaller number of workers. While some workers retire early, other workers will work part-time between full-time work and full retirement. As evidence of a gradual transition toward retirement, Quinn and Burkhauser (1994) noted that the importance of part-time work has risen dramatically with age. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S. Department of Labor, 1999), 16% of men in 1999, who were aged 60-64 worked part-time (less than 35 hours per week), while a full 50% of men over 65 did. About 33% of women aged 60-64 worked part-time and 60% of women 65 and over worked part-time. Due to the increase in life expectancy, the trend toward working part-

This study investigated the motivation for intergenerational financial and time transfers between parents and adult children using data from the Health and Retirement Study. The results showed that emotional closeness between parents and adult children was significantly associated with both adult children to parent and parent to adult children transfers. In addition, parents and adult children who met frequently were more likely to help each other by making financial or time transfers. Also, financial transfers between parents and adult children were motivated by the donor’s altruism to the disadvantaged adult children or parents. However, wealthier parents and adult children with full‐time jobs were less likely to make time transfers. The results of this study help in understanding the motivation for various types of intergenerational transfers in an aging society.

This study examined retirement expectations of the older self‐employed utilizing two theories: the normative anticipation of retirement and cumulative advantage theory. Two‐thirds of the older self‐employed had no retirement plans. Multinomial logistic regression showed that those with no retirement plans were more likely to be unmarried, in poorer physical health, with few resources, and more obligations, but they expected to live a long time. Job skills programs and managerial training could improve the financial well‐being of the older self‐employed and enable them to plan for retirement.

Decisions that the family business owner makes about retirement and succession are critical and could affect a large proportion of the work force. Compared to employees, family business owners may have more of an opportunity to retire partially, i.e., reduce the number of hours worked. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of family business owners who expect to retire partially. Data on 1,155 family business owners from the 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances reveals that family business owners with more education and more income, who work more hours per week, and who have tax‐deferred retirement accounts expect to retire partially. There is a direct correlation between age and those choosing partial retirement, suggesting that many family business owners expect to retire partially. Married family business owners were less likely to expect to retire partially; instead, they would retire fully. The equity in the business, type of ownership, and involvement of other family members did not affect the expectation of partial retirement.

The primary reason for buying life insurance is to provide financial protection for family members in case of the unexpected death of the wage earner. The two major types of life insurance are term and cash‐value insurance. Term is believed to be the least expensive. This study examined ownership of life insurance among families with a respondent between the age of 24 and 66 and with incomes below $80,000. About one‐third of the sample of 454 respondents had purchased life insurance on either the respondent or spouse/partner. Although there were some differences in predicting term versus cash‐value insurance, saving regularly and income were the two most consistent predictors of life insurance purchase.