What do older adults typically consider when choosing the right time to retire?

What will be an ideal response?

Individual preferences shape retirement decisions. At the same time, older adults' opportunities and limitations greatly affect their choices. Affordability of retirement is usually the first consideration in the decision to retire. Yet despite economic concerns, many preretirees decide to let go of a steady work life in favor of alternative, personally meaningful work, leisure, or volunteer activities. Exceptions to this favorable outlook are people forced into retirement or earning very low wages—who often take bridge jobs reluctantly to make ends meet. People in good health, for whom vocational life is central to self-esteem, and whose work environments are pleasant and interesting are likely to keep on working. For these reasons, individuals in high-earning professional occupations usually retire later than those in blue-collar or clerical positions. And when they do retire, they more often shift to stimulating bridge jobs, with some retiring and returning to the work force multiple times. Self-employed older adults also work longer, probably because they can flexibly adapt their working hours to changing needs. In contrast, people in declining health, who are engaged in routine, boring work, or who have pleasurable leisure or family pursuits often opt for retirement. In most Western nations, generous social security benefits make retirement feasible for the economically disadvantaged and sustain the standard of living of most workers after they retire. The United States is an exception: Many U.S. retirees, especially those who held low-income jobs without benefits, experience falling living standards. Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, and Sweden have gradual retirement programs in which older employees reduce their work hours, receive a partial pension to make up income loss, and continue to accrue pension benefits. Besides strengthening financial security, this approach introduces a transitional phase that fosters retirement planning and well-being. And some countries' retirement policies are sensitive to women's more interrupted work lives. In Canada, France, and Germany, for example, time devoted to child rearing is given some credit when figuring retirement benefits.