RETIREMENT AS A MILESTONE IN LIFE: IMAGE OF THE DESIRED FUTURE AND EXPERIENCE OF PLANNING ONE'S LIFE

The article presents the results of a study of older people, «pre-retirees» and «early retirees» (retired not more than five years ago). The purpose of the study is to describe approaches to planning one's life after retirement. The study is based on the materials of a survey conducted using a multi-stage stratified sample (N=1025) in May and June 2023 in Moscow. Analysis of these data reveals that the shares of those who make plans and those who do not make plans are roughly comparable: 56% vs. 44%. Most often people start thinking about plans for the period after reaching retirement age only after the age of 50 (29%) or on the eve of their fiftieth birthday (16%). Women are more inclined to plan. It is not surprising that the most common images of the future are associated with women's plans and relate to the arrangement of their local living space (house, dacha, garden), or the space of communication with relatives. The data also reveals the demand for various types of self-realization. The study shows that the practice of planning the future in retirement is related to the presence or absence of strategizing experience in the past. The assessment of the prevalence of this practice allowed the authors to identify the areas in respect of which people more often make plans and which they consider useful for planning: family and birth of children, profession and career, work, family budget, home and housing. Income and expenditures, savings, profession, and career turn out to be the most difficult for to achieving the intended goals. It is shown that the younger the group is, the less often the respondents talk about the fulfillment of the intended plans. Based on their analysis, the authors make an assumption about the propensity to make plans: behind the age characteristics are complex generational differences with different attitudes to managing one's life, career, family, health, and other aspects of life. Behind these differences lies a fundamental revolution in everyday and strategic practices- the rejection of «standard biography» in favor of «reflective biography».