ABSTRACT
This chapter presents findings from the ‘Behind Closed Doors’ project, a qualitative study investigating cultural, social and life-course influences on how older couples manage their money, and the implications for autonomy and well-being in later life. It examines the ways in which ageing couples cope with major financial transitions such as retirement, where it finds an unanticipated stickiness about financial practices. The chapter describes that patterns established early on in the relationship are of prime importance, these persist often through thick and thin, and are often only changed by a cataclysmic event such as breakdown and re-partnering. Money practices are maintained despite substantial external changes in society and gender relations. Via their money practices, couples maintain to themselves and externally their own and their couple identity, and money management becomes incorporated in their daily work of gender management. Retirement and pension transitions were only rarely catalysts for change in financial arrangements or practices.
