In the 1960s I developed several major new banking services in my role as a marketing researcher. The most famous was the modern multi-bank credit card ( it became the first global currency ), the modern corporate cash management system, consumer certificates of deposit and simplified checking.
I was constantly examining new markets for new banking services.
One of the markets I looked at was senior citizens. I did focus groups in the early 1960s in senior citizen housing developments.
I also, as was consistent with my research methodology, selected random subjects for extensive personal interviews by me in person in their homes.
One of the most stunning, and to me surprising, findings of my interviews with older people was they invariably looked back on their life with pride. They believed they had accomplished something worthwhile before they retired.
This attitude was virtually universal among retirees male and female. It didn't matter whether they had sold life insurance or worked on a production line or raised one child. Their life has been meaningful and they had accomplished a great deal.
Now I admit that I was only talking to middle-class retirees. I cannot say the same would be true for people who were living in public housing and retired.
My experience was quite a surprise. On the other hand using cognitive dissonance theory I should have expected that outcome. People adjust their minds and their worldview to satisfy their prior decisions. Whatever decisions they made earlier in life they now were validating.