Introduction: Without proper preparation, 1 in 3 workers who are about to retire face adaptation problems while their levels of stress and anxiety increase.Objective: To diagnose the educational preparation needs for retirement by classifying expectations and knowledge of Mexican workers about to retire.Materials y methods: Qualitative descriptive study in which an initial comprehensive evaluation was used. 92 workers over 55 years of age and about to retire were included. Data were collected in a metacognitive format that encourages self-assessment and self-reflection. A thematic analysis was carried out.Results: Six types of knowledge were identified: 1) no knowledge; 2) basic knowledge; 3) indifferent knowledge (workers who knew little about retirement or were not interested in learning about it); 4) knowledge about labor rights; 5) positive knowledge; and 6) negative knowledge. Expectations were classified into five types: a) wanting to know everything, b) wanting to know about income, c) wanting to know about rights and obligations, d) wanting to stay active, and e) wanting to prepare for retirement.Conclusion: The metacognitive tool helped workers who are close to retirement to decipher, reflect and socialize their knowledge and expectations about retirement, and to raise awareness about their upcoming change of lifestyle. Companies should prepare employees who are going to retire through sensitizing conferences, taking care first of the need to know about the procedures and paperwork. Relatives and colleagues should be involved in future interventions, given that retirement has a collective dimension that needs to be addressed.