The purpose of this study is to explore the mediating effects that retirement preparation and financial education might have on the retirement expectations and later life satisfaction of pre-retirees. In order to achieve this, the following problems were addressed:
First, what differences emerge among retirement expectations, retirement preparation, financial education, and later life satisfaction for pre-retirees, when certain background characteristics are factored in (i.e., gender, work experience, and household income).
Second, what mediating effects do retirement preparation and financial education have on the relationship between retirement expectations and the later life satisfaction of pre-retirees?
Third, what differences exist between the various classifications of pre-retirees (gender, work experience, and household income) in regards to the mediating effects of retirement preparation and financial education?
The data in this study was collected from questionnaire responses from pre-retirees who have participated in financial education among 30 or more. Among the 650 questionnaires distributed, 547 were returned as valid; these were used in the study’s analysis.
To statistically process the collected data, SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 16.0 were used. The analysis of the structural equation modeling (SEM), and multiple group analyses were done to verify the model.
Based on the research findings, the following conclusions were made:
First, it was proven in this study that retirement expectations, retirement preparation, financial education, and later life satisfaction vary according to the background characteristics (gender, work experience, and household income) of pre-retirees.
The retirement expectations and financial education of female pre-retirees was found to be higher than those of male pre-retirees.
The retirement expectations, retirement preparation, and later life satisfaction of the group with longer amounts of work experience were higher than those of the group with less work experience.
The retirement expectations, retirement preparation, and later life satisfaction of the group with high household incomes were higher than that of the lower income group.
Second, there were mediating effects of the pre?retirees’ retirement preparations and financial education on the relationship between retirement expectations and later life satisfaction.
The mediating effects on the prediction of later life satisfaction was that the retirement preparation would be a bigger factor than financial education.
Third, the mediating effects of the pre?retirees’ retirement preparations and financial education on the relationship between retirement expectations and later life satisfaction differed according to their background characteristics (gender, work experience, and household income).
When separated by gender, it was shown that male pre-retirees experience more mediating effects in retirement preparation than female pre-retirees. When separated by length of work experience, it was revealed that the group with more work experience felt more mediating effects on retirement preparation and financial education than those with less work experience. Interestingly, when separated by household income, the data revealed that the group with an average household income experienced more mediating effects on retirement preparation and financial education than either those who had lower or higher total household income. But, the group with lower household incomes showed no mediating effects on retirement preparation and financial education.
This study emphasizes the necessity of a multi-faceted retirement preparation and financial education experience for the later life satisfaction of pre-retirees. To this end, national, business, university, and lifelong education institutions should be the mainstays to develop policies and customized programs for retirement planning.