Prospective Retirement Migration

Linkages between retirement and residential mobility are examined prospectively, using measures of retirement migration expectations included in the first wave of the Health and Retirement Survey. Variations in individuals' decisions to move at the time of planned retirement are analyzed as a function of current social and demographic characteristics, the accumulation of ties to the community of current residence, and the gradual development of ties to potential place of destination. Place ties, home ownership, and income are found to be the strongest predictors of intentions to move at retirement. These findings confirm the view that decisions regarding retirement migration involve both factors that are "distinctive" for elderly mobility, as well as those derived from more general models of migration.