Over the past several decades there has been a shift away from older adults financing retirement with Social Security and perhaps a pension from a longtime employer to greater dependence on personals savings, including individual retirement accounts (IRAs). As a result, planning in advance for a secure retirement has become increasingly important.

The MIT AgeLab has worked with The Hartford to learn more about some of the issues and challenges adults face as they plan for retirement. Drawing on original research, we found that women on average have higher levels of concern about retirement than men do. Why Women Worry (pdf) explores the reasons why women may face a more challenging task planning for and living in retirement than men do.

Couples Planning (pdf) examines how different married couples’ styles of financial management may be related to their success in retirement planning. Couples who took a “divide and conquer” approach to managing their finances were more likely to have saved more money and planned for retirement.

Other Resources Include:

• AARP has different calculators and resources for retirement planning
• The U.S. Government maintains a website of resources around the issue of retirement, including fact sheets and calculators