Purpose -The aim of this article is to obtain a better understanding of people's motivation and behaviour with respect to provision for their retirement. Design/methodology/approach -This study examines variation in behaviour and attitudes towards pensions and retirement saving among consumers of financial service products, using data from a questionnaire survey. Findings -A cluster analysis indicates that consumers can be divided into six clusters, with distinctive demographic, economic, behavioural and attitudinal traits for each cluster. Of particular interest is the finding that members of two of the clusters reported a general tendency to be in debt in the short term, whilst at the same time putting money away for retirement through either a company pension or voluntary regular saving.Research limitations/implications -The data set is composed of people who enquired about products offered by the financial services industry. This makes the findings by definition relevant to marketing pensions and retirement savings products to this set of people. It is not clear to what extent they apply to the population as a whole; this would be a useful further study. Originality/value -The key contribution of this study is that the identification of target groups could ultimately lead to enhanced abilities for pension providers to develop customised pension and saving products for those groups.

Pension reforms in many countries have resulted in more choice and risk to individuals, decreasing the dependability on State public pensions. However, it is not clear how research has addressed this issue and how much is know about retirement saving decisions. With this paper, we provided two major contributions to the literature on retirement saving. As a starting point, we developed a general chart of retirement saving choices, extending the work of Hurd and Panis (2006). These authors focused exclusively on choices at job change or retirement age and we extended their diagram to all main decisions at each stage of retirement saving, providing a more comprehensive framework. We then used this diagram as the yardstick to perform the systematic review and evaluate the breadth of research in the last 20 years. We found 130 papers and identified the most studied retirement choices and the under-researched areas. Most papers focused on asset allocation, decision to save and contribution rate. Less attention was given to decisions at retirement age and voluntary savings. Furthermore, very few papers studied the psychological and social influences in retirement saving decisions. Policy implications and future research are discussed.

The aims of this paper are to fi rst seek an understanding of consumer decision-making when purchasing pension and investment products, and second to ascertain how this decision-making affects the consumer ' s choice of distribution route. The study employed both focus groups and postal questionnaire survey methods based on the framework of a classical decision-making model that investigated problem recognition, information search, evaluation tools used and post-purchase. The fi ndings show that the decision-making process experience differed to a lesser or greater degree depending on the distribution route. The majority of respondents had recognised the need to make a purchase decision long before seeking information. Younger respondents on all incomes believed that they must make some pension provision for themselves as opposed to relying on the government ' s retirement provision. Many changed channels for information searches, but tended to settle with the Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The two main evaluation tools for pension and investment were found to be the ' charges ' and ' historic fund performance ' . The vast majority of respondents reiterated their worry that the outcomes would not be known until retirement. In terms of analysis by the level of ' fi nancial literacy ' , respondents who scored in the upper quartile were more inclined to be on a higher income, less inclined to evaluate on charges and more proactive in discussing the investment strategy of their pension fund. Respondents who scored in the lower quartile had opposite results. One of the implications of these fi ndings is that the younger respondents ' recognition of pension savings favours the government ' s intention to reverse the existing balance of pension distribution. The other main implication is that the fi ndings will be of help to managers in appreciating the dominance of the IFA channel by providing an explanation of why consumers choose this route, and, additionally, can assist direct marketing managers in identifying customers who will be more likely to use multichannel or single-channel shoppers. It can also help the marketing manager increase the usage of different channels by addressing the factors driving the purchase decision and distribution choice.

This article examines the factors affecting women's earnings during their working years that go on to affect their earnings in retirement. In particular, it argues that factors relating to part-time working, career patterns and types of occupation and employment contribute not only to keeping women's income lower than men's during their working life, but also to a reduced entitlement to benefits from occupational pension schemes after retirement. When the effects of women's greater longevity are also taken into account, a picture emerges of an increasing number of women facing poverty either in old age or in extreme old age. Using data from the Labour Force Survey, the variations in pay between men and women are analysed, providing results which in turn help to explain the differences in post-retirement income. It is argued that occupational pension schemes, most of which were constructed with the needs of the long-serving male breadwinner in mind, could be made more appropriate to the very different needs of female employees in a much more mobile and flexible pattern of employment.

An integral part of government policy is to encourage employees to make financial provision for retirement. This paper asks why eligible employees, particularly women, do not join their company schemes. This two‐stage study uses face to face interviews followed by a survey of 532 employees who have chosen not to become members of their company schemes. Findings highlight personal pension ownership and a requirement for flexibility and pension portability as the key reasons for non‐membership. The dominant reason given by women was the expectation that a partner would provide in retirement.