| 要約: | This study examines the extent Malaysians make financial preparations and their
readiness for retirement and the predictors of retirement plans based on the life-cycle
model that people seek to maintain their living standards by smoothing their
consumption, as they age and face life’s various contingencies. The study delved into
the concept of life-cycle financial planning, life-cycle theories of savings,
consumption, and investing, and the critical issues surrounding the study of retirement,
particularly investment planning strategies for financing consumption during the postretirement
period. The three potential sources of post-retirement income for
Malaysians are: a defined benefit (DB) pension for retired civil servants, the
Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for employees in the private sector, and personal
savings. A total of 990 questionnaires were distributed to respondents with a 55.2%
return rate. A total of 12 main hypotheses were analysed using ordinary and
hierarchical regression analyses, as circumstances justified. The results revealed that
24 of the hypotheses or sub-hypotheses were accepted and 34 rejected. Principally,
the hypotheses have focused on four major areas, namely: (1) the relationship
between age cohorts and orientation towards financial planning, (2) the current
financial resources and expected retirement age, (3) the effect of interrelationships
between confidence in the economy and financial planning preparation within the
context of current financial resources, and (4) confidence in the economy and various
levels of consumption. It was observed that, with the demographic variables being
included in the overall models, nearly half the hypotheses have shown some positive
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effect. These effects are mainly involved with orientation towards retirement planning,
expected retirement age, confidence in the economy, current financial resources and
financial planning preparation. There is also evidence to indicate that the
interrelationships between age cohort and orientation towards financial planning
generally have some degree of mediating effect from Malaysians’ confidence in the
economy which may affect their plan for securing their post-retirement financial
security. The implication was that not only should their individual perceptions of
retirement planning become an increasingly important part of people’s long-term
commitment throughout their life-cycle, financial planning must also assume the role
as a self-directed life-long learning process, in view of the ever-changing and
complicated financial environment. Another implication is that the anticipated pattern
of real income in the future is a very crucial part of optimal consumption patterns.
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