Gender comparison between financial independence and retirement readiness among Malaysian public employees

Since many people may spend much of their lifetime after long employment period, good planning prior retirement is related significantly to life satisfaction after retirement. In Malaysia, there are 1.2 million civil servants working in various ministries and agencies. Study by Malaysian Employers Federation´s (MEF) revealed that in average 100,000 employees retires every year, from both the public and private sectors. What makes it frightening is only 5% of Malaysians are prepared for retirement. Despite a growing awareness for the need to prepare for retirement, many people do not translate their plans into actions. Therefore, this research intended to measure gender differences in terms of financial readiness for the retirement. Questionnaires were collected from 110 sample of respondents from Majlis Daerah Kuala Langat (MDKL). Independent sample t-test shows that only two factors are significant between gender in terms of financial readiness for retirement which are personal savings and pension scheme. These two factors are identified by both male and female respondents as the most contributing factors towards financial readiness for retirement among public sector employees. The finding is hoped to give significance contributions in terms of financial preparation for retirement among public sector employees.