Social self-determination, life practices and economic aspects of preparing women aged 45-57 for retirement

Abstract

The article presents the results of a sociological study conducted on a target sample of working woman of older middle and pre-retirement age - 45-57 years. The study was aimed at identifying the peculiarities of the perception of the age of «45+» by women themselves in such aspects as shared values and life goals, practices of coping behavior in relation to age and aging, retirement life planning. The issues of preparing for retirement are considered in an extended age range in order to fix the threshold values for the perception of age - to determine at what age the pension begins to be perceived as the immediate life prospect and the reorientation to the tasks of an older age group takes place. According to the results of the study, a predominantly positive perception of the age 45+ age period by women themselves was revealed with a wide variability in self-determination of its content - from a period of rest and stability to professional achievements and personal growth. In general, a positive perception of the one’s age «here and now» is combined with avoidance of thoughts about the upcoming retirement as more or less distant future. A paradox has been that recorded that requires further research: the majority of respondents begin to think about retirement only after reaching the pre-retirement age, while they would like to implement for themselves those methods of preparing for retirement that obviously require a longer planning horizon and a period of accumulation of economic resources than a three-year pre-retirement period.