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Table 4 Reasons for retiring by retirement timeframe: subset of respondents to the 5-year follow-up survey (N = 557)

From: Employment and retirement impacts on health and wellbeing among a sample of rural Australians

 

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

  1. 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