Preretirement planning of female registered nurses.

Knowledge of preretirement planning among women has not been a major focal point for researchers. The purpose of this study was to test a model for understanding preretirement planning among working women and to describe and explain preretirement health and financial plans. A multivariate method of analysis was used with a sample of 145 working female registered nurses, 40 years of age or older, from a major health sciences institution. Data were collected with a mailed questionnaire that measured knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of women regarding health and financial preretirement planning. The results of this study indicated that formal and informal methods of planning for retirement were limited. Knowledge of health maintenance issues and economic issues were found to be helpful in making plans for the retirement years. This study identifies strengths and weaknesses in the preretirement planning process of working women and contributes to the expansion of knowledge to reduce problems during retirement.