Thesis advisor: Christina Matz / Thesis advisor: Ce Shen / The aging of the population has imposed sustainability issues to Social Security, which has led to a glowing debate about what the full retirement age (FRA) should be and whether working longer is a fair and realistic expectation for everyone – or just for those who have a certain level of control over their retirement decision. It was estimated that by 2013, there were over 50% household at risk of financial insecurity in retirement. Thus, having to retire earlier might mean that individuals are in a particular precarious situation financially. Evidence suggests that in order to make ends meet, workers intend to stay on the job longer. About 27% of workers state they plan to work at retirement and 24% state they plan to continue to work until they are not able to do so. However, 50% of retiree retired earlier than planned, and only 24% of them did so because they realized they could afford retirement, while the remaining 76% retired involuntarily due to health or lay-offs. Evidence suggest that there are startling ethno-racial differences regarding retirement preparedness and planning. Hispanics tend to do little to none retirement planning, and tend to face retirement insecurity, which is expressed as high dependency in Social Security and poverty rates three times higher compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Some recent qualitative research has pointed out that for Hispanics there might be cultural elements at play. Few studies have explored ethno-racial disparities regarding retirement planning and decisions and the results are inconsistent. Ethno-racial and cultural variables are some of the most understudied variables in the retirement planning literature. The present dissertation seeks to contribute to fill some of these gaps by exploring ethno-racial differences between Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the U.S. regarding, retirement planning, retirement decisions and retirement outcomes. Results indicate that there are significant differences between Hispanics and non-Hispanics, especially foreign-born Hispanics. This as the result of the complex relationship of Hispanics’ culture and their migration experience that has been marked by diminished labor market conditions, which along with Hispanics’ lack of education and English proficiency has limited their working opportunities / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.