Exploring The Retirement Attitudes of Pre-Retired Individuals in The Eastern Cape, South Africa

It is known that most South Africans do not plan for retirement and reach retirement age without sufficient retirement income. A possible explanation of individuals’ lack of retirement planning is their attitude towards retirement. This study aims to investigate the factors that could possibly influence individuals’ retirement attitudes. To achieve this, research hypotheses were developed and empirically tested. A total of 145 usable questionnaires from pre-retired individuals from the Eastern Cape were subjected to various statistical tests to examine the factors that influence their retirement attitudes. The results of the study indicated that there are significant relationships between retirement age decisions and financial preparations on the one hand, and the attitudes of individuals towards retirement on the other. The retirement attitudes of individuals were assessed in terms of the perceived losses in entering retirement, the gains in entering retirement, and the gains in leaving work. The findings of the study also revealed that the respondents had a positive attitude towards retirement.