Marital Histories, Gender, and Financial Security in Late Mid-Life: Evidence from Four Cohorts in the Health and Retirement Study

Marital status is an established predictor of financial well-being in later life, with continuously married people enjoying considerable economic benefits that accumulate over the life course, contrasting sharply with the economic vulnerabilities faced by divorced, widowed, or never-married individuals. Although prior work suggests that marital histories—including the number and sequencing of past and present unions and dissolutions—have become more complex for more recent cohorts, the economic ramifications of this demographic shift are unclear. Further, how shifts away from continuous marriage will impact women’s financial security in later life is unknown. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we examine cohort and gender variation in the relationship between elaborated marital history measures and financial security at ages 51-56, when wealth and earnings are at or near lifetime peaks. We examine three financial measures (negative, zero, and positive wealth; positive wealth levels; earnings) that capture distinct components of financial security as individuals approach retirement.