Factors affecting the retirement savings behaviour of low to middle income South Africans

M.Com. (Financial Management)Abstract: The purpose of this study is to add to the body of literature in the field of retirement savings by examining different aspects that may influence an individual’s propensity to save towards their retirement. This study provided a unique view of the factors affecting retirement savings by comparing those factors associated with three retirement savings groups, namely, (1) voluntary retirement savings, (2) compulsory retirement savings and (3) no retirement savings. The factors that were investigated in this study were financial knowledge, financial behaviour, financial attitude, gender, ethnicity, age, marital status and education level. Four hypotheses were put forward to explore the relationship between financial knowledge, financial behaviour, financial attitude, demographics and retirement savings. With the exception of the association of financial attitude, as compared between voluntary retirement savings and compulsory retirement savings, the findings of this study agree with the conceptual model that was proposed. The differences in the three retirement savings outcome levels were an important outcome of this study