One in 10 UK adults have scrapped their retirement plan in the last 2 years, believing that they may now never have the opportunity to give up work.
New research released this week by Baring Asset Management shows that 10% of the working population, equivalent to 3.5m people, now have no plans to stop working following the economic downturn – whereas in a similar survey conducted by Barings in 2008, 100% of people were confident they could retire, and were still actively pursuing retirement pension plans.
There is widespread uncertainty even for those who are still factoring and end to work into their retirement pension plans – 42% of people now do not know at what age they will retire, compared to just 1% in 2008, Barings said.
Of those who have already reached the age of 65, over a third (36%) have declared or realised they are unlikely ever to retire, while for those in the 55-64 age group, 15% are revising their retirement pensions planning, accepting that they may never be in a position to give up work.
Even for those whose pensions planning still includes an end to working, their planned retirement age has been put back. Amost 100,000 people still working believe they will work until they are at least 76, and 2.3m people do not plan to stop work before they reach 65 – up from 1.9m last year, according to Barings.
Barings has attributed people’s changes to their retirement plan to failure to save for retirement, increased longevity, and rises in the cost of living.
“People have worked hard for retirement, and a few extra decisions, such as taking professional financial advice and ensuring their investment portfolios are correctly positioned, could make all the difference,” said a Barings spokesperson.
