Financial Literacy and Retirement Planning Behaviour Among Working Single Women in Private Sector
Abstract
A lack of financial knowledge causes many to make poor financial decisions, which may result in irrational financial choices and jeopardize their retirement plans. Studies have shown that one in three Malaysians consider themselves to have "low financial knowledge." Furthermore, one in ten people believe that they are financially undisciplined. Studies have shown that 35 percent of men are more financially literate compared to 30 percent of women globally. With the increment level of financial literacy among women, it will be able to minimize the socio-economic gap and inequality that still exists and in addition to achieve the sustainable development goal 2030. This article aims to explore the causes of financial literacy towards retirement planning behaviour among working single women, using theory of planned behavior and OECD’s elements of financial literacy as a bases of discussion. This study applied a qualitative approach through 5 interview sessions with working single women. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were then interpreted using thematic analysis. The findings of this study revealed that the elements of financial future, debt free motivation, financial shocks and financial socialization agent describe the causes that contributed to the financial literacy behavior towards retirement planning among working single women.
Downloads
References
Aziz, N. I. M., & Kassim, S. (2020). Does Financial Literacy ReallyMatter for Malaysians? A Review. International Journal of Banking,Accounting, and Finance, 2(2), 13-20.DOI: 10.35631/AIJBAF.22002
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational behavior and human decision processes, 50(2), 179-211.
Bucher-Koenen, T., Lusardi, A., Alessie, R., & Van Rooij, M. (2017). How Financially Literate Are Women? An Overview and New Insights. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 51(2), 255–283. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26627408
Callegari, J., Liedgren, P. & Christian Kullberg, C. (2020). Gendered debt – a scoping study review of research on debt acquisition and management in single and couple households. European Journal of Social Work, 23(5), 742-754. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13691457.2019.1567467
Eun Kim, G. & Jung Kim, E. (2020). Factors affecting the quality-of-life single mothers compared to married mothers. BMC Psychiatry, 20, 169. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7161072/
Financial Education Network. (2019). Malaysia national strategy for financial literacy 2019-2023. Financial Education Network. Retrieved from https://www.sc.com.my/api/documentms/download.ashx?id=6385977c-bd2c-4612-bda8-9ce6a5961720
Hassan, K. H., Rahim, R. A., Ahmad, F., Zainuddin, T. N. A. T., Merican, R. R., & Bahari, S. K. (2016). Retirement planning behaviour of working individuals and legal proposition for new pension system in Malaysia. J. Pol. & L., 9, 43.
Hastings, J., & Mitchell, O. S. (2020). How financial literacy and impatience shape retirement wealth and investment behaviors. Journal of Pension Economics & Finance, 19(1), 1-20.
Hasler, A. & Lusardi, A. (2017). The gender gap in financial Literacy: A global perspective. Global financial literacy excellence center, the George Washington University School of Business. Retrieved from https://gflec.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/The-Gender-Gap-in-Financial-Literacy-A-Global-Perspective-Report.pdf
Iramani, R., & Lutfi, L. (2021). An integrated model of financial well-being: The role of financial behavior. Accounting, 7(3), 691-700.
Jenkin, T., (2022, May 10). Women are gaining power when it comes to money – here’s why that’s a big deal. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/03/money-decisions-by-women-will-shape-the-future-for-the-united-states.html
Na, L., Zavyalova, E. B., Pichkova, L. S., & Starikova, E. A. (2021). 19 Women Empowerment and Sustainable Development. Strategies for the Global Economic System for 2030.
OECD. (2019). PISA 2021 Financial literacy analytical and assessment framework. OECD. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/pisa/sitedocument/PISA-2021-Financial-Literacy-Framework.pdf
Ouachani, S., Belhassine, O., & Kammoun, A. (2020). Measuring financial literacy: A literature review. Managerial Finance, 47(2), 266-281. DOI: 10.1108/MF-04-2019-0175
Sabri, M. F., Dass, T. M., Burhan, N. A. S., Wahab, H. A. R. A., Wijekoon, R., & Simanjuntak, M. (2021). Determinants of life satisfaction among female-headed households in Malaysia. International Journal of Business and Society, 22(1), 276-295.
Sanwal, T., & Sareen, P. (2021). The Relevance of Social Intelligence for Effective Optimization of Retirement and Successful Ageing. Ageing International, 1-16.
Serido, J., Tang, C., Ahn, S. Y., & Shim, S. (2020). Financial behavior changes and progress toward self-sufficiency: A goal-framing theory application. Emerging Adulthood, 8(6), 521-529.
Skagerlund, K., Lind, T., Strömbäck, C., Tinghög, G., & Västfjäll, D. (2018). Financial literacy and the role of numeracy–How individuals’ attitude and affinity with numbers influence financial literacy. Journal of behavioral and experimental economics, 74, 18-25.
Topal, G., Lunceford, G. and Boyatzis, R.E. (2018). Financial Planning for Retirement: A Psychosocial Perspective. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2338.
Ullah, S. & Yusheng, K. (2020). Financial Socialization, Childhood Experiences and Financial Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Locus of Control. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 2162. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02162.
United Nations. (2017). World Population Ageing 2017: Highlights. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. United Nations. Retrieved from https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/ageing/WPA2017_Highlights.pdf
