Physical workload during firefighting in Chilean volunteers

The study was performed in a sample of 39 firemen. The state of health for each fire fighter was evaluated by means of a clinical examination and also through some specific exams. Aerobic capacity was estimated as an indicator of physical fitness. In each load, cardiac frequency and oxygen consumption were measured under a steady state condition. Additionally, body composition was calculated using a Tanita professional scale. Physical effort at work was determined by measuring cardiac frequency using a telemetric unit. Evaluations were carried out during night shifts, registering information under the following conditions: night shifts without emergency, fire simulation, training exercises and real fire fighting. In general terms, it is possible to state that fire fighters are healthy according to the result of the clinical examination. However, it is very important to highlight that 70% of the firemen consume alcohol and 80% were smokers. The average aerobic capacity of the sample was 2.6 l/min or 34.5 ml/kg/min. In terms of overweight and obesity, the body mass index was 25.7, whereas the percentage fat mass reached an average of 22.9 %. The cardiovascular load in the night shifts without emergencies did not surpass 40%, which in Chile is considered the highest limit for sustained work. However, during training, simulations and real fires, the firemen had higher cardiac frequencies, reaching peak levels close to 100% cardiovascular load.     

The impact of deferring retirement age on retirement income adequacy

UPDATE OF RSPM-POST-65 RETIREMENT AGES: The EBRI Retirement Security Projection Model (RSPM) was developed in 2003 to provide an assessment of national retirement income prospects. The 2011 version of RSPM adds a new feature that allows households to defer retirement age past age 65 in an attempt to determine whether retirement age deferral is indeed sufficiently valuable to mitigate retirement income adequacy problems for most households (assuming the worker is physically able to continue working and that there continues to be a suitable demand for his or her skills). The answer, unfortunately, is not always "yes," even if retirement age is deferred into the 80s. LOWEST-INCOME LEVELS, 50-50 CHANCE OF ADEQUACY: RSPM baseline results indicate that the lowest preretirement income quartile would need to defer retirement age to 84 before 90 percent of the households would have a 50 percent probability of success. Although a significant portion of the improvement takes place in the first four years after age 65, the improvement tends to level off in the early 70s before picking up in the late 70s and early 80s. Households in higher preretirement income quartiles start at a much higher level, and therefore have less improvement in terms of additional households reaching a 50 percent success rate as retirement age is deferred for these households. LOWEST-INCOME LEVELS, HIGHER CHANCES OF ADEQUACY: If the success rate is moved to a threshold of 70 percent, only 2 out of 5 households in the lowest-income quartile will attain retirement income adequacy even if they defer retirement age to 84. Increasing the threshold to 80 percent reduces the number of lowest preretirement income quartile households that can satisfy this standard at a retirement age of 84 to approximately 1 out of 7. IMPORTANCE OF DEFINED CONTRIBUTION RETIREMENT PLANS: One of the factors that makes a major difference in the percentage of households satisfying the retirement income adequacy thresholds at any retirement age is whether the worker is still participating in a defined contribution plan after age 65. This factor results in at least a 10 percentage point difference in the majority of the retirement age/income combinations investigated. FACTORING IN RETIREMENT HEALTH COSTS: Another factor that has a tremendous impact on the value of deferring retirement age is whether stochastic post-retirement health care costs are excluded (or the stochastic nature is ignored). For the lowest preretirement income quartile, the value of deferral (in terms of percentage of additional households that will meet the threshold by deferring retirement age from 65 to 84) decreases from 16.0 percent to 3.8 percent by excluding these costs. The highest preretirement income quartile experiences a similar decrease, from 12.8 percent to 2.6 percent.     

Determinants of retirement timing expectations in the United States and Australia: a cross-national comparison of the effects of health and retirement benefit policies on retirement timing decisions

Data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study (N = 2,589) and the Australian Household Income and Labour Dynamics survey (N = 1,760) were used to compare the macro-level policy frameworks on individual retirement timing expectations for pre-baby boomers (61+ years) and early baby boomers (45 to 60 years). Australian workers reported younger expected age of retirement compared to the U.S. sample. Reporting poor health was more strongly associated with younger expected retirement age in the United States than in Australia. Cohort and gender differences in the United States were found for the effect of private health insurance on younger expected age at retirement. Our results draw attention to how cross-national comparisons can inform us on the effects of policies on retirement expectations among older workers.     

Leisure activity and adjustment in retirement

A sample of retired persons in a southern metropolitan area responded to a questionnaire designed to investigate the interrelationship between level of leisure activity and adjustment in retirement Adjustment was measured by two indices, life satisfaction and alienation. The survey's results show that persons who have more leisure activities are more satisfied with their lives and are less alienated than those who have few leisure activities.     

Financial literacy and the design of retirement plans

We design and administer a financial literacy test tailored to a specific defined contribution plan. We find that participants show fairly good knowledge of the basic mechanics of the plan, but are unable to differentiate among various investment options. Knowledge is particularly low among women, low income and low education employees. We also find some evidence that personal contributions lead to more knowledge. These results support plan designs that have few investment options and encourage personal contributions.     

Women and retirement: relinquishing professional identity

Twenty-eight interviews were conducted with a sample of 14 retired professional women with continuous work histories. Life history data about the meaning of retirement and the relationship of retirement to issues of identity were collected. By using the grounded theory method, the investigator identified a common theme experienced among the women interviewed: the sacrificing of one's professional identity following retirement, the loss of social contacts, the loss of professional challenges, and encountering stereotypes during retirement. Data from this study indicate women with continuous work histories may enter retirement with apparent ease, yet experience difficulty adjusting to the loss of their professional role. Further research investigating the transition for women from professional status to retirement status is needed.     

Effects of work and retirement within long-term marital relationships

Long-term marriages of 21 retired working class couples were examined for the post-retirement effects on the marriage's social integration, happiness, involvement and satisfaction. Evidence suggests that marital patterns evolving in response to the work situation result in different types of relationships for dual paycheck and traditional couples. While both groups were happy, satisfied and involved in home, family and their own dyadic relationship, dual paycheck couples had more egalitarian and cooperative relationships. Their increased happiness, satisfaction and involvement are indicative of the benefits of their former dual employment.     

Evidence concerning the relationship between health and retirement

: Survey data concerning the incidence of serious illness before and after retirement are analysed in two ways, (i) by comparison of groups of retired men with groups of men in the last ten years of their working lives; (ii) by examining and comparing the trends over time before and after retirement. Whereas the first method would lead to a conclusion that there is no difference between retired and working men, the second method shows a distinct drop in the incidence of serious illness in the two years following retirement and a slower rate of increase thereafter. It is concluded that retirement is associated with a substantial lowering in the incidence of serious illness.     

State and local retirement plans: innovation and renovation

This Special Report/Issue Brief examines the universe of state and local retirement plans. It describes how these plans have developed and continue to evolve in a number of areas, including plan features, regulatory framework, governance, and asset management. While these retirement programs differ in many respects from private-sector plans, the disparity in some areas has narrowed. This report also includes a discussion of trends and the underlying forces for change. Public-sector retirement programs provide an important source of pension coverage in the United States, and are a significant part of the total retirement market: Combined public-sector retirement assets (state, local, and federal governments) comprised 29 percent of the $11.2 trillion U.S. retirement market in 1998. State and local plans are dominant in the public-sector retirement market, holding $2.7 trillion in assets, compared with $696 billion held by federal plans (both military and civilian). More than 16 million individuals are employed by state and local jurisdictions in the United States. State and local retirement plans share certain common features because of the environment in which they operate. Legal statutes, governance, and tradition all play a role in defining what is sometimes referred to as a "public-sector culture." Despite common features, there is considerable diversity among public-sector retirement plans. To attract and retain a skilled work force, public-sector employers have increased their use of defined contribution (DC) plans to supplement defined benefit (DB) plans (or, to a lesser extent, replace or serve as an alternative to them) and improve cost-of-living adjustments. At the same time, a combined federal-state regulatory framework has encouraged certain plan design features, unavailable in the private sector, which include multiple tiers for successive generations of employees in a single plan and different strategies to increase portability. State and local retirement plans reflect an increasing role by the federal government in pension system design and operation, which has led to greater complexity in such areas as Social Security participation and deferred compensation arrangements. Complexity can be expected to increase with the recent passage of P.L. 107-16, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. The latest full-year data included in this report are for 1999 and in some cases 2000. After this report went to press, the Federal Reserve issued significantly revised quarterly data for state, local, and federal retirement plan assets, which were not incorporated in this Issue Brief.     

Financial literacy and retirement planning in the Netherlands

The complexity of financial decisions that households now face has increased to unprecedented levels. At the same time, households seem to lack the financial knowledge to cope with these decisions, including how to save and invest adequately for retirement. In this paper, we examine the relationship between financial knowledge and retirement planning in the Netherlands. For this purpose, we have designed a module on financial literacy and planning for the De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) Household Survey. We find a strong and positive relationship between financial knowledge and retirement planning; those who are more financially knowledgeable are more likely to plan for retirement. Using information on economics education acquired in school, we show that the nexus of causality goes from financial literacy to planning rather than the other way around.     

Transnational habitus at the time of retirement

ABSTRACT

International mobility requires the shifting of bodies across places, through life courses and stages, creating individual and collective experiences that become taken for granted. They are habitus, which is the durable deployment of an individual’s body in the world, as well as a scheme of perception, thought and action that is present throughout life, including retirement. This study asks what kind of transnational habitus is visible in the narratives of interviewed older adults at the time of retirement. The answer is sought by analysing life stories of mobility from older adults who live or have lived abroad for several years. The multilocal transnational habitus of interviewees rests on their desire to maintain their mobility when retired. However, both their physical and mental international mobility are at risk when faced with an ailing body and mind, and policies allow and restrict the transferability of benefits and accessibility to services.