Time and Financial Transfers Within and Beyond the Family: Results From the Health and Retirement Study

Research on time and financial transfers is often conducted along two distinct lines—transfers within the family and transfers beyond the family—without considering the fact that the two types of transfers are actually interrelated. Using longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), this article investigates the links between the time and financial transfers within and beyond the family. The concepts of within and beyond the family transfers are discussed. Several data quality problems with the transfer measures in the HRS are corrected. Focusing on the interrelationships among the four types of transfers, the study finds that the transfers within and beyond the family are complements in the sense that households that are more willing to make within-family transfers are also more willing to make beyond-family transfers, and vice versa. Income and wealth are strong predictors of financial transfers. Black and Hispanic households lag systematically in the generosity to help the people both within and beyond their families.