The factors determining the private pension planning of female service sector workers in Malta

Abstract

This dissertation aims to determine the key factors influencing the private pension planning of female service sector workers in Malta. The necessary data was obtained by means of an online questionnaire, targeted towards employed women aged between 18 and 60 years old. The data was then analysed via SPSS and the Eviews Statistical Package, using a logistic regression. The results obtained suggest that income, time preference, age, financial literacy and the age of dependents are key factors influencing female private pension planning. However, the respondents’ education level, marital status, profession type and whether they are the sole breadwinner of the household or not, are not significantly associated with their private pension planning.

Briefly, the results suggest that older women are more likely than their younger counterparts to have a private pension plan in place. The same would apply to higher earning relative to lower earning women. Similarly, those women with at least a basic level of financial literacy are more likely to own a pension plan than their financially illiterate counterparts. Those women with young dependents, aged younger than eighteen, are also more likely to own a private pension plan than those women not having any young dependents.

This study is, of course, subject to a number of limitations, namely those associated with the method of research used. Consequently, limitations such as self-selection bias and the lessthan-perfect population representation are considered throughout.