The objective of the study was to develop and validate a financial preparation scale for retirement. A scale with 19 items on a five-point Likert scale was developed. Validation involved two phases and four steps. In the qualitative phase, validation by specialists and the pre-test were carried out. In the quantitative phase, a sample of 650 respondents was used in the exploratory step and another sample of 1,624 individuals in the confirmatory validation. The result of the study is the construction and validation of the Financial Preparation for Retirement Scale (FPRS) with 13 items distributed in three dimensions (future expectation, financial planning and saving behavior) that identifies how respondents perceive their financial preparation for retirement. A methodology for applying the FPRS is presented, what constitutes a practical contribution to researchers, managers and public policy makers once they may use it as an indicator to assess financial preparation for retirement of citizens. (c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.