An Attempt to Measure and Model Women’s Attitudes to Saving for Retirement

Abstract

Research background Because of the convergence of demographic, political, and economic trends, retirement has become a significant stage of human life, which currently requires thoughtful and careful planning. Therefore, social pension schemes – a type of system under which the benefits are being provided – and women’s individual saving decisions should give consideration to the fact that it is necessary to accumulate additional funds which should be sufficient for several decades after retirement. Purpose Social pension schemes are widely discussed in all European countries, and in this context we can pose the following question: What is it exactly that makes women save for retirement? This paper has two objectives: to identify the factors that encourage women to save and to measure these factors and develop a model which shows correlations. Research methodology A questionnaire survey was used for collecting the primary data. Subsequently, the analysis is based on 4 indexes created for the purposes of this paper. Then, the indexes were estimated on the basis of the unidimensional two-parameter IRT model, rho and CR coefficients, and multiple-group logistic regression analysis. Novelty The conducted calculations lead to the conclusion that regardless of age, several factors are statistically significant for the whole analysed group, e.g. a place of residence. This is the first paper that shows determinants important for women when it comes to saving for retirement.