title: Wealth, income, and health before and after retirement.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It was supposed that associations of wealth and health might be higher after retirement than in the economically active periods of life, but no comparisons were available. Most studies on wealth were based on net worth, a measure combining several elements of wealth into an index. We examined associations between different elements of wealth and health by comparing retired women and men with economically active ones.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were drawn from the German Socio-Economic Panel, a nationwide longitudinal survey project. Two waves (2002 and 2007) included indicators of wealth in addition to household income and education. Wealth was not depicted by an index. Instead, debts, property of life insurances, home ownership and assets were considered separately with their associations with self-rated health. Two data sets were used to examine whether the results were occasional, or whether they can be replicated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Associations of income and education emerged in respondents in their active periods of life. In most cases indicators of wealth were associated with subjective health. In retired respondents home ownership was the only indicator yielding consistent associations with health, but their sizes turned out as rather moderate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Contrary to expectation, the associations of wealth and health were inconsistent in the retired study population. These results were obtained in a country with national pension schemes, and it has to be examined whether the findings can be generalised to other countries. The inconsistent findings of indicators of wealth are calling the utility of net worth into question.
authors.affiliation: Medical Sociology Unit, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geyer
authors.affiliation: Medical Sociology Unit, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Ove
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Spreckelsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Sociology, Medical Faculty, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: von dem Knesebeck
mesh_terms: D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000145:classification*; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010067:Ownership; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012179:Retirement / Q000191:economics*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012923:Social Class
keywords: Self-Rated Health; Social Inequalities; Socio-Economic