Is Poverty a Key Aspect of Ageing?

The poverty in old age is one of the most persistent stereotypical images of ageing. Due to the significant differences between income before retirement and pension benefit, there is an objective drop in the income with the retirement. However, with the individualisation of pension provision and weakening the link between statutory retirement age and labour market exit, the connection is not so straightforward anymore and the image gets even more colourful when social class and different forms of capital are taken into consideration.

Using the secondary analysis of different surveys carried out in last decade among the Czech population aged 40 years and above, I will show the attitudinal data on the role of poverty and financial exclusion in old age definition. I will address issues such as expected (sources) of income after the retirement, marginalisation in consumption, indebtedness, age discrimination in financial services provision and subjective poverty. I will use the paradigm of heterogeneity of older population to show how these differ in different age-, gender-, income-, and social capital- groups.