This dissertation aims to improve our understanding of work to retirement transitions in the Netherlands, by taking a life course perspective. Specifically it focuses on the associations between educational, work, health, and family experiences earlier in life and retirement-related outcomes. Different aspects of retirement transitions are examined, such as late-career work disengagement, retirement timing, and postretirement adjustment. Analyses based on the NIDI Work and Retirement Panel data show that earlier life experiences in different life spheres “set the stage” for the way in which older workers approach their later years. ; This dissertation aims to improve our understanding of work to retirement transitions in the Netherlands, by taking a life course perspective. Specifically it focuses on the associations between educational, work, health, and family experiences earlier in life and retirement-related outcomes. Different aspects of retirement transitions are examined, such as late-career work disengagement, retirement timing, and postretirement adjustment. Analyses based on the NIDI Work and Retirement Panel data show that earlier life experiences in different life spheres “set the stage” for the way in which older workers approach their later years.