Retirement planning: important factors influencing a service member's decision to prepare for retirement
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Authors
Todd, Jimmie S.
Schuyler, Matthew R.
Subjects
personal financial management
retirement savings
retirement preparation
military retirement
financial factors
nonfinancial factors
retirement savings
retirement preparation
military retirement
financial factors
nonfinancial factors
Advisors
Rendon, Juanita M.
Landry, Steven P.
Date of Issue
2017-12
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The purpose of this research study was to identify what financial and nonfinancial retirement planning factors are important to service members and to determine which factors have the most significant influence on a service member's decision to financially prepare for retirement. A voluntary and anonymous online survey was developed and deployed to resident U.S. military students at the Naval Postgraduate School to identify the circumstances that influence decisions to save or not save for retirement. The survey included questions regarding financial resources, resource constraints, and nonfinancial factors. After analyzing the literature and survey data, the findings indicate that saving for unexpected costs outside of retirement accounts, improving financial literacy, and establishing clear retirement goals were important to consider during retirement planning. This research also found that a service member's rank, savings outside of a dedicated retirement account, calculating necessary retirement savings, and conducting retirement planning activities were statistically significant at the 0.05% level. Finally, recommendations were made for the Department of Defense to increase retirement education for service members and provide retirement education on a continual basis, which may encourage service members to increase savings outside of a dedicated retirement account.
Type
Thesis
Description
MBA Professional Report
Department
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funding
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.