As one of America's leading researchers
on finance, employee benefit plans and retirement
economics, Olivia S. Mitchell was tapped by the National
Institute on Aging, or NIA, to collaborate on one of the most
comprehensive studies on aging ever undertaken.
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| At a glance |
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Long-ranging and extensive in scope,
the study has surveyed more than 27,000 people age
50 and older since 1992 and has yielded a mother lode
of information on the consequences of retirement and
the relationship between health, income and wealth
over time.
The result, The Health & Retirement
Study, or HRS, is a cooperative effort managed by the
NIA and the University of Michigan's Institute for
Social Research.
Bankrate.com caught up with Mitchell
as she was returning from an international conference
for pension fund managers in Lima, Peru.
 The HRS study data indicates a larger proportion of baby boomers expect to be working after age 65. What factors are contributing to that expectation?
 Boomers
are beginning to understand that they are more likely
to live for a long time in retirement, thus requiring
more financing for retirement than in the past. Also,
Social Security and Medicare are in a precarious state.
So working longer offers a chance to save up more
and sustain an income at an older age. And since there
are fewer young people in the labor force, employers
are actively seeking to keep older workers in many
cases, so they won't lose the know-how and productivity.
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