Financial Planning for Retirement: A Psychosocial Perspective

Procrastination and Stress: A Conceptual Review of Why Context Matters

Research over the past two decades has continued to highlight the robust associations between procrastination and stress across multiple populations and contexts. Despite this burgeoning evidence base and theory linking procrastination to higher levels of stress, as well as the reverse, the role of context in this potentially dynamic association has received relatively little attention. In this conceptual review I argue that from a mood regulation perspective of procrastination, stressful contexts necessarily increase risk for procrastination because they deplete coping resources and lower the threshold for tolerating negative emotions. Drawing on insights from coping and emotion regulation theory, the new stress context vulnerability model of procrastination proposes that the risk for procrastination increases in stressful contexts primarily because procrastination is a low-resource means of avoiding aversive and difficult task-related emotions. The new model is then applied to evidence on the primary and secondary sources of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic and how they may have increased vulnerability for procrastination. After discussing potential applications of the new model for understanding how and why risk for procrastination may increase in other stressful contexts, approaches that might mitigate vulnerability for procrastination in high-stress contexts are discussed. Overall, this new stress context vulnerability model underscores the need for taking a more compassionate view of the antecedents and factors that may increase the risk for procrastination.

Physician assistant/associate retirement intent: seeking the exit ramp

BACKGROUND

Retirement patterns for American physician assistants/associates (PAs) are in flux as the first substantial cadre trained in the 1970s makes their retirement choices. The growing and aging of the US population is increasing the demand for healthcare services. At the same time, provider retirement can decrease patient access to care, disrupt continuity of care and lead to poorer health outcomes. Knowing PA intentions to retire and the retirement patterns can be useful to health system employers and workforce policymakers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the retirement patterns of PAs within the United States. We investigated their characteristics, career roles, and intent to depart from clinical practice.

METHODS

Drawing on the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) 2020 health workforce data (N = 105,699), the associations of demographics (age, gender, US region, and years certified), and practice attributes (specialty and practice setting) of clinically active PAs were assessed with intending to retire in the next five years. Analyses for this national cross-sectional study included descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Fisher's Exact test, as appropriate. A p-value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant for all analyses where a comparison was made.

RESULTS

Overall, 5.8% of respondents indicated that they intend to retire within five years. We detected significant differences (all p < 0.001) on intentions to retire by age group, gender, US region, years certified, specialty, and practice setting. Respondents 70 years and older compared to those 60-69 were more likely (66.5% vs. 48.9%), males compared to females (8.8% vs. 4.4%), those who have been certified for more than 21 years compared to 11-20 years (25.6% vs. 4.0%), PAs practicing in family medicine compared to dermatology (7.7% vs. 3.4%) and those in the federal government practice setting compared to rural health clinic (13.6% vs. 9.8%) reported they were more likely to retire in the next five years.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study provides a comprehensive snapshot of PA retirement intentions using a robust national dataset. Among the most important factors associated with intent to retire in this study were older age and duration of PA career. Most PAs are remaining clinically active into their seventh decade-suggesting that they are integrated into medical systems that value them and they, in turn, value their role.

Enhancing Planning Behavior during Retirement: Effects of a Time Perspective Based Training Intervention

Time perspective is a psychological construct that reflects the way people view time. Two schools of thought exist that theorize how this temporal mindset affects behavior—dominant and balanced. We applied dominant and balanced time perspective frameworks separately to two versions of an online intervention that aimed to promote goal-setting and accumulation of essential retirement resources (health, physical, social, cognitive and emotional) and compared effects with a control group. The effectiveness of the intervention was tested with 109 US retirees using a 4-wave design over a 6-month period. Linear mixed models showed an increase in health goal striving for the balanced group at posttraining and gains were maintained at the 3-month time point. Both training groups demonstrated an increase in the number and specificity of goals at posttraining and 3-months. Applying a time perspective framework to an online planning intervention for retirees shows promise in promoting planning for retirement resources. Practical implications, limitations, and suggestions for developing future interventions are discussed.

Retirement Confidence: Development of an Index

Older workers who are confident about the changes accompanying retirement report higher well-being. We have developed an index to measure retirement confidence - the Retirement Confidence Index (RCI). A six-stage approach was used to develop the index items, including (i) a literature review to catalogue retirement confidence components; (ii) a consultation with a panel of experts to review the proposed indicators and combine components according to their meaning; (iii) normalisation of the selected components to make them comparable; (iv) weighting of the top-level dimensions using experts' judgement; (v) linear aggregation of the dimension scores according to their corresponding relative weight; and (vi) correlation of the composite score with a self-report measure of retirement confidence. Based on the review of the literature, a list of nine sub-components (financial literacy, financial attitude and behaviour, financial control, financial anxiety, physical health, mental health, social connectedness, goal setting for retirement and future uncertainties) was compiled. Subsequently, these components were grouped into four broad dimensions. Correlations between these dimensions (social, financial awareness and skills, health and well-being, and retirement awareness and planning dimensions) and the corresponding self-reported measures were as high as r = 0.555, r = 0.603, r = 0.591 and r = 0.569, reflecting 30.8%, 36.3%, 34.9% and 32.3% shared variance with the corresponding self-reported indices, respectively. The Retirement Confidence Index provides the foundation for future research to measure retirement confidence, with the aim of identifying deficient RCI dimensions and directing efforts to targeted policies to ensure older workers are confident about retirement.

Framing the Retirement Planning Behavior Model towards Sustainable Wellbeing among Youth: The Moderating Effect of Public Profiles

This study examines the effect of financial literacy, saving attitudes, social influence, and goal clarity on the retirement planning construct. In addition, it investigates how the public demographic profile moderates these relationships. The questionnaire approach was utilized to collect data by adopting and customizing the measurement scale from previous studies. A systematic random sampling approach was employed on 323 prospective respondents. The outcomes of this study illustrate that all relationships are significantly and positively associated with retirement planning using structural equation modeling (SEM). Furthermore, all moderator variables (gender, age, status, income, and education) moderated the relationships. The government should construct a holistic retirement planning model that is based on demographic characteristics.

Retirement Savings Model Tested With Brazilian Private Health Care Workers

Retirement is one of the most serious challenges facing Brazil currently, considering the rapid pace of population aging, growing social inequalities, and the difficulty that Brazilians have in planning for their financial future. The number of studies on psychosocial factors in retirement is limited. The aim of this cross-sectional study is to determine Brazilian health workers' perceptions about financial planning for retirement, based on studies by Hershey and Mowen (2000). In this study, retirement saving - the dependent variable - is highlighted by the use of a model with the following antecedents: parental influence, retirement goal clarity and retirement planning activity level. The goals of the study were to establish mediating and moderating relationships as an innovative approach to the original model. Data was gathered from 319 workers at a private hospital in the municipality of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) who filled out a questionnaire concerning their saving behaviors and antecedents. Results indicated a model in which goal clarity mediated the relationship between parental influence and retirement saving, and retirement activity was observed to influence the level of retirement saving. The findings confirmed the complexities of financial planning for retirement, and emphasized important factors, such as parental advice starting in childhood and the effect of this advice on goal clarity. The results also pointed to the role of individual responsibility in the process, which depended on establishing a plan for activities. In addition to parental advice, an educational approach can contribute encouraging saving behaviors and helping retirees achieve financial security in retirement.

Procrastination and Personal Finances: Exploring the Roles of Planning and Financial Self-Efficacy

Procrastination is related to unhealthy personal financial behaviors, such as postponing retirement savings, last minute shopping, and not paying bills on time. The present paper explores factors that could explain why procrastinators demonstrate more financial problems compared to non-procrastinators. Study 1 (N = 675) focused on planning, as both procrastination and poor financial habits are negatively related to planning. Results confirmed that procrastination was a significant predictor of personal finances, but the propensity to plan was not. Study 2 (N = 500) explored the roles of procrastination and financial self-efficacy in two facets of financial behavior, financial impulsivity and financial planning. Results indicated that the effect of procrastination on financial behavior was fully mediated by financial self-efficacy. Hence, these results suggest that procrastination operates primarily through its self-efficacy component to impact financial behavior negatively.

Financial Self-Efficacy and Disposition Effect in Investors: The Mediating Role of Versatile Cognitive Style

The disposition effect refers to the tendency of investors to sell winners too early and hold on to losers too long, which is one of the most documented and robust decision biases. However, few studies have looked beyond demographic and social factors on the disposition effect. The current study investigated the association between financial self-efficacy (FSE) (one’s belief about their personal capability in ultimate financial goals achieving), versatile cognitive style (an individual’s capability in deploying the experiential or rational mode in ways that are contextually appropriate), and the disposition effect. A total of 285 employees from finance-related business completed anonymous questionnaires regarding FSE, rational-experiential inventory, and the disposition effect. Our findings revealed that FSE was significantly and positively associated with versatile cognitive style and the disposition effect. Further, versatile cognitive style partially mediated the relationship between FSE and the disposition effect. Our findings provide valuable guidance for individual investors to make financial decisions based on their characteristics.

Too soon to worry? Longitudinal examination of financial planning for retirement among Spanish aged workers

The present study analyzes the relationship between three distal antecedents-financial literacy, confidence in retirement, and economic well-being-and financial planning for retirement evaluated at two different times. We used longitudinal data with repeated measures of financial planning for retirement obtained from a sample (N = 269) of active Spanish workers aged 45-62 years. The results confirm that self-perceived financial knowledge, confidence in retirement, and economic well-being are associated with financial planning for retirement at three and six months. The stability of financial planning for retirement over time was a relevant finding in the present research, even though different measures have been employed in the two waves and financial planning decreases slightly at three months. While the first step of planning, at three months, has predictive power over the second, at six months, there are possible moderators in the relationship between financial planning for retirement at time 1 and time 2, which were not explored. The implications of the results both for financial education and Policy-makers are discussed. Future lines of research can explore these relationships including objective measures of income, as wealth accumulation.

Financial Planning for Retirement: Age-Related Differences Among Spanish Workers

This article tests an integrated model of financial planning for retirement (FPR), with 948 Spanish workers aged between 30 and 63. Overall, the three model dimensions—capacity, willingness, and opportunities to plan and save—show a significant association with financial planning for retirement. The moderator role of age in the relationships between antecedents and financial planning was tested. Consistent with our hypothesis, younger participants showed a greater level of FPR if they were characterized by a high level of education. The interaction between both age and psychological preparation for retirement and retirement goals clarity failed to reach statistical significance. We discuss how financial planning effectiveness could be increased based on the results of importance-performance map analyses.