Discussing Retirement: Insights from a Qualitative Research Project

This paper describes a qualitative research project of thirty interviews with women in Western Australia and summarises the outcomes generated from subsequent data analysis. Three key areas of interest are discussed that add to the existing body of economic research on women’s savings. Firstly, the project’s conclusions emphasise women’s own definitions of savings, their perceptions about their skill in making financial decisions and their ideas about risk and seeking financial advice. Secondly, the project contributes to a greater appreciation of the links between women’s decision-making contexts, processes and outcomes and the ways these affect their future access to economic resources. Thirdly, the research method played an important role in identifying potentially relevant literatures that had not yet been applied to studies of women’s savings. It is concluded that relatively small programs of qualitative research can generate valuable insights into economic research agendas.