How are socioeconomic aspects related to retirement expectations?

Abstract

Previous research has shown that retirement expectations may influence retirement-related behaviour, while socioeconomic aspects may influence retirement expectations. Existing literature has investigated several covariates of retirement expectations, yet socioeconomic aspects have received scarce attention. This thesis aims to quantitatively investigate how socioeconomic aspects relate to retirement expectations in a Swedish sample. Results indicate that positive retirement expectations correlate with earlier anticipated retirement age irrespective of educational level. Moreover, results from binary logistic regressions indicate that high socioeconomic measures influence retirement expectations concerning sufficiency of personal economy positively, and retirement expectations concerning overall satisfaction and occupational identity negatively. Results are discussed in relation to previous research, the Swedish retirement context and the theoretical perspectives role theory and the cumulative (dis)advantage hypothesis.