The Individualised Swedish Pension System: A qualitative study on foreign-born women's retirement planning

Abstract: The Swedish pension reform in the 1990s introduced several individualistic features and a debate has emerged on the implications of the structure and if policymakers behind the reform had unrealistic assumptions on economic behaviour. Given the potential negative implications of the current structure and the projections on how foreign-born women is at risk of receiving future low pensions, a qualitative study was done focusing on the individual reflections on how some foreign-born women perceive their future retirement and how they navigate when making pension-related decisions. Primary data was collected from four in-depth interviews with foreign-born women and was later analysed using bounded rationality and heuristics to give meaning to their reflections and put in context with the literature. The findings suggest that the participants had not reflected upon their future retirement to a great extent, that their navigation when making decision is done in informal ways, and that the communication of information from the state is vital in retirement planning.