Let’s Talk About it: Discussing Retirement with Multiple Sources is Associated with Retirement Preparation in Young Adults

Although young adults are interested in finance, their financial competence, especially about the topic of retirement, is fairly thin. With a large sample of members of Generation Z (ages 18–25, n = 1,311), I explored whether young adults talk about retirement with others; and the correlates between talking about retirement and retirement preparation. Participants reported whether they have spoken about retirement with nine sources: parents, siblings, other family members (non-parent; non-sibling), friends, significant others, co-workers, financial advisors, people on internet forums, and “other sources.” All participants reported to have discussed retirement with at least one source, with parents being the most common. Young adults’ attitudes towards retirement preparation were largely positive. For example, participants acknowledged the importance of learning about retirement and experienced more positive than negative affect when thinking about retirement. Behavioral measures of retirement preparation did not yield any effects, showing a potential gap between young adults’ retirement preparation attitudes and behavior. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the effect of retirement conversations on retirement preparation varied by source. I tie the findings into past research and discuss practical implications.