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.