Planning Ahead or Living a Day at a Time? A Family History of AD and Retirement Planning.
We assess whether a family history of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with the odds that healthy family members' engage in retirement planning activities.



This is a cross-sectional study utilizing individual-level data from the Utah Population Database that have been linked to Medicare records and to responses from a retirement planning survey. Engagement in 3 retirement planning activities was estimated as a function of the number of parents and grandparents diagnosed with AD along with a set of fundamental socioeconomic and demographic covariates.



Adults who had a parent with AD were 86% more likely to have seen a professional financial advisor and 40% less likely to plan to retire before age 65.



Caregiving costs and/or knowledge of the familial risk of developing AD may provide adult children with a forewarning of their own future financial needs that, in turn, motivates them to engage in retirement planning.
Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA College of Social and Behavioral Science, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA zick@fcs.utah.edu.
Cathleen D
CD
Zick
Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA Utah Population Database, Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Ken R
KR
Smith
Family and Consumer Studies, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Robert N
RN
Mayer
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005382:Financing, Personal / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D012179:Retirement / Q000191:economics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States
AD risk; Alzheimer’s disease; retirement planning