Ageing as a demographic trend has been the focus of increasing attention in the EU. In Finland the population is even more aged than in the older EU member states. In Finland the transition of older workers to retirement is also happening, on average, faster than in other EU countries. Demand in the Finnish labour market is directed to the younger, and usually more educated group, while the supply comes increasingly from the ageing group. At the same time as the population is ageing, working life is rapidly changing, setting new demands on occupational skills. Those who entered the workforce many decades ago with a fairly low level of education now find themselves competing for jobs in work environments that are quite different from those they first experienced. New priorities for working life (e.g. coping with constant change, communication abilities, information technology skills and language skills) are more familiar to the younger generations. These skills are emphasised because of the development in technology and of the increase of globalisation and internalisation. Life-long learning and learning at work becomes increasingly important because the changing working life presupposes constant updating of knowledge and skills. The present disadvantageous developments in demographic structure, and the eagerness of employees to take early retirement, have stimulated the debate over ways of maintaining working capacity. One of the central aims of this study is to determine the means by which the desire and ability to work amongst ageing workers (over 45 years old) can be sustained on the road to official retirement at 65. The study focus in particular on the role played by adult education and life-long learning, and their importance in maintaining people's working ability. The qualitative part of the study consists of structured thematic interviews with respondents aged 45 and over working in the sectors of public health care (N = 54) and retail commerce (department stores and small supermarkets; N = 44). I compare the views and experience of people with various educational backgrounds (e.g. hospital assistant, nurse, senior nurse) and working at different levels of the organisational hierarchy. In my presentation I focus on the thoughts about retirement voiced by the interviewees, looking for factors which would account for what attracts them towards retirement or on the other hand what would explain working satisfaction. The thoughts about retirement divide the interviewees into four different categories: 1) realistic view of retirement, 2) spiring to early retirement, 3) continuing flexibly towards retirement and 4) happy to work till statutory retirement age. The interviewees' ideas about retirement are examined first of all on the basis of what they say directly when asked about their readiness to go on working until the statutory retirement age. As the following step, I looked at the individual factors (education, working history, state of health, family situation), as well as factors related to work, are connected with thoughts about retirement. The factors related to work included the meaning of work, satisfaction with work, the atmosphere at the workplace, changes in the working situation (either earlier or expected) and attitudes towards them, the possibilities available to the individual for influencing one's work situation and self-development, participation in adult education and in-job training and needs related to education, career prospects, factors making for uncertainty at work and exhaustion and burnout. Other factors included in the study were activities aimed at maintaining working ability - their availability, their effectiveness as experienced by the interviewees, and wishes related to such activities as helping the individual to go on working till normal retirement.