Table 4.
Reasons for retiring by retirement timeframe: subset of respondents to the 5-year follow-up survey (N = 557)
| Retired before baseline: | C. Retired during study period (N = 185) |
D. Plan to retire in next 5 years (N = 86) |
p | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. > 5 years (N = 193) |
B. Up to 5 years (N = 93) |
||||
| % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | ||
| Age Mean (SD) | 75.81 (6.24) | 69.76 (4.67) | 64.97 (4.59) | 60.85 (4.80) | |
| Sex | |||||
| Male | 42.0 (81) | 49.5 (46) | 42.7 (79) | 30.2 (26) | 0.071 |
| Female | 58.0 (112) | 50.5 (47) | 57.3 (106) | 69.8 (60) | |
| Reached usual (or desired) retirement age | 35.2 (68) | 40.9 (38) | 28.6 (53) | 47.7 (41) | 0.015 |
| Eligibility for Old Age or other pension | 12.4 (24) | 18.3 (17) | 11.4 (21) | 15.1 (13) | 0.402 |
| Eligibility for superannuation (or financially secure) | 17.1 (33) | 18.3 (17) | 21.6 (40) | 44.2 (38) | < 0.001** |
| Own sickness, injury or disability | 14.0 (27) | 8.6 (8) | 20.0 (37) | 3.5 (3) | 0.001* |
| Stress or mental health problem | 5.7 (11) | 2.2 (2) | 9.7 (18) | 5.8 (5) | 0.095 |
| Own business closed or sold | 8.8 (17) | 21.5 (20) | 13.0 (24) | 10.5 (9) | 0.022 |
| No paid work available | 2.1 (4) | 3.2 (3) | 3.8 (7) | 0.0 (0) | 0.286 |
| Made redundant/dismissed | 9.8 (19) | 4.3 (4) | 5.9 (11) | 1.2 (1) | 0.034 |
| Declining interest in work | 5.2 (10) | 15.1 (14) | 15.7 (29) | 25.6 (22) | < 0.001** |
| Retirement of partner | 15.0 (29) | 8.6 (8) | 9.2 (17) | 23.3 (20) | 0.006* |
| Lifestyle reasons | 14.0 (27) | 18.3 (17) | 21.1 (39) | 33.7 (29) | 0.002* |
| To care for family member/friend | 9.8 (19) | 3.2 (3) | 7.0 (13) | 2.3 (2) | 0.056 |
| To undertake voluntary work | 2.1 (4) | 5.4 (5) | 8.6 (16) | 7.0 (6) | 0.043 |
Note: In Australia, ‘superannuation’ typically refers to money compulsorily put aside by your employer over your working life that you can access when you retire (currently equivalent to a minimum of 9.5% of your salary). The four categories reported here were based on employment status at baseline, any subsequent retirement during the study period, and self-reported duration and reasons for retirement from the 5-year follow-up survey (with a minimum of one reason required for inclusion in this analysis). Statistical significance was based on overall Chi-square tests (df = 3): *p < 0.01, **p < 0.001