The Management of Retirement Savings Among Financially Heterogamous Couples

Autor:	Maude Pugliese, Hélène Belleau
Rok vydání:	2020
Předmět:	Sociology and Political Science 0502 economics and business 05 social sciences Political Science and International Relations 050602 political science & public administration Sociology 050207 economics health care economics and organizations 0506 political science
Zdroj:	Social Policy and Society. 20:580-598
ISSN:	1475-3073 1474-7464
DOI:	10.1017/s1474746420000627
Popis:	Retirement scholars (and policy makers) have traditionally assumed spouses share their retirement savings, even when they are financially heterogamous and their individual saving capacities diverge. Recent research, however, has challenged this assumption, emphasising that wealth is unequally distributed within couples. In this study, we contribute to this debate by exploring how often financially heterogamous spouses describe their management of retirement savings as joint and redistributive. Data collected in Québec (Canada) in 2015 show that 28 per cent of couples with an income differential report to balance retirement savings across partners. Building on exchange and institutional theories of conjugal behaviour, we also stress that the prevalence of this practice varies with several factors, including union duration and matrimonial status. These findings suggest policy makers underestimate the size of the population at risk of old age financial vulnerability when assuming lower-income individuals are well prepared for retirement if partnered with a better-off spouse who saves.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz:	https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_________::cac65cdb26d39ddef583aaea49d7cd1d https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474746420000627 Zobrazit plný text záznamu