How Grandchildren Botch the Best-Laid Retirement Plans

For people without enough money to retire, one solution seems obvious: keep working. But life often gets in the way. Health issues make it impossible to work, or they lose a job and can't find another.

Here's another factor that disrupts the best intentions: grandchildren. Women are more likely to retire when their children have babies, according to a new study from American University business professor Robin Lumsdaine and strategy consultant Stephanie Vermeer. If women age 58 to 61 are helping to care for their grandkids, they are 29 percent less likely to be working full-time compared to women who aren’t grandmothers.