Retirement and Household Financial Headship: Evidence from England

• Retirement reduces earnings and can weaken the retiree’s household decision power • I estimate the causal effect of English men’s retirement on couple financial headship • Men’s probability of being the financial head drops at retirement • Effects hold in day-to-day financial management, not in formal decision roles Retirement reduces personal income and may shift the balance of bargaining power between partners in elderly couples. Using data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, I show that male partners are significantly less likely to be the household financial respondent once they retire, while no significant change for “who has the final say” over major financial decisions. Overall, results suggest a decline of men control in everyday financial matters, but no significant reallocation of bargaining power for formal financial choices.