Considerable wealth stratification exists between U.S.-born and foreign-born popu lations (Campbell and Kaufman 2006), with low wealth attainment documented among Mex i can immi grants (Hao 2007). High rates of Mex i can return migration (Azose and Raftery 2019) suggest that nonrandom selection into return migration on wealth is a potential driver of strati fi cation. Existing the ories do not conclu sively pre-dict asset accumu lation among return ees ver sus stayers, and empiri cal research on return migration and wealth strat ifi cation is scarce. Combining data from the 2000 U.S. Health and Retirement Study and the 2001 Mex i can Health and Aging Study to cre ate a novel data set representing all Mexi cans aged 50 and older with a his tory of migration to the United States and adopting a life course perspective, I find that return migration at youn ger and older ages is asso ci ated with higher wealth accumu lation and might be a way to maximize assets at older ages. Thus, return migration may contribute to nativity -based wealth stratifi cation in the United States. The study's find ings point to the greater finan cial risks for new cohorts of immi grants aging in place, sug gest caution in inter-preting wealth strati fi cation as a mea sure of mobil ity, and inform the ories about the links between return migration and wealth across the life course.
