Household financial decision making: Qualitative research with couples

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Retirement decision making
Emotional inertia
For some individuals, reluctance to make decisions, or to contemplate retirement at all, stemmed 
from an underlying fear or sense of intimidation when faced with financial products and decision 
making. It was evident from interviews that some people’s lack of confidence was a consequence 
of their unfamiliarity with this type of product. Some spoke openly about their fear of making the 
‘wrong’ decision and wasting their money. Others pointed to the economic climate. 
‘I don’t know enough. The whole country doesn’t seem to be confident, especially when it 
comes to savings and banking and whatever else.’
(Malcolm, 40s, South East)
How inertia may change over time
Piecing together the circumstances that all of the couples describe, indicates that the types of inertia 
at play tend to vary over the life course. The situations that participants described indicated that 
many believed inertia would abate as certain ‘milestones’ such as marriage and parenthood were 
achieved. In essence, some couples suggested that being ‘old enough’ to make plans for retirement 
corresponded with the incidence of certain life events such as marriage or parenthood. Despite this, 
in some cases, such life events tended to reinforce other existing types of inertia, with the result that 
retirement planning was still not addressed. For example, the additional responsibilities that come 
with having children can give couples yet another reason not to save for retirement. At no point do 
the three forms of inertia appear to subside enough for couples to make their retirement plans well 
in advance of it. 
‘I think once you get married and you have children and then it [planning your retirement] is the 
next stage isn’t it? At the moment I am in my mid-20s and still having fun.’
(Sally, 20s, South East)
Figure 4.3 illustrates the broad pattern in the three types of inertia and how the couples participating 
in this research indicated that they grow and reduce throughout the life course. For example, day-
to-day inertia is a constant presence, and this layer is the same thickness all the way through the 
life course, including after the ‘house/married/children’ and ‘retirement’ milestones are achieved. 
Emotional inertia, in contrast, was portrayed as reducing slightly as the ‘house/married/children’ 
milestones were reached, but then increasing afterwards and reaching a peak before declining, and 
featuring hardly at all after retirement. 

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