Modelling retirement resources, home environment and quality of marriage for greater well-being

To retire comfortably with one’s well-being ensured is a common goal. The transition to retirement potentially introduces a destabilising element towards one’s financial, health, emotional, cognitive, motivational, and social resources. This paper examines the relationships between these components of the retirement resources inventory, home environment, quality marriage and subjective well-being which consists of life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect and happiness elements. The study utilized the purposive sampling method where questionnaires were administered to 650 retirees at senior activity centers with high memberships and at states with high old-age dependency ratios. The respondents’ demographics reflect Malaysia’s ethnic composition, with half of them with secondary education. The constructs were developed using exploratory factor analysis and further confirmed through structural equation modelling (partial least squares). Analysis indicates that all seven retirement resources significantly contribute to retirees’ subjective well-being. Retirees’ subjective well-being is strongly related to having a home environment that is elderly friendly. Quality marriage mediates the relationship between retirement resources inventory and subjective well-being, as marriages mean more financial and social resources are pooled together in addition to the positive emotions that exist in the union. The findings implied that relevant authorities should increase institutional and public awareness of the urgency for future retirees to prepare, maintain as well as gain these retirement resources before they reach retirement age. This allows for the retired population to better cope with challenges brought by ageing and old age as Malaysia moves rapidly towards becoming an aged nation by the year 2044.