Business News |
|
Retirement plans change drastically amid economic uncertainty
The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition's plans to scrap the current default retirement age (DRA) from October 2011 will come as welcome news to those approaching retirement age, considering the continued uncertainty across all markets and the rising cost of living.
Indeed, research by Baring Asset Management has shown that one in ten adults (3.5 million people) have completely abandoned their plans to finish working, and 42 percent (15 million) are not sure what age they will retire at.
This is in marked contrast to just two years ago, when all the respondents were confident that they would retire, and only one percent did not know what age they would be when that happened.
The amount of the working population not planning to retire increases further amongst the older age groups. 15 percent of those aged between 55 and 64 have no intention of stopping working, and this jumps to 36 percent for the 65 and over category.
Amongst those who do plan to retire, almost 100,000 will not do so until
they are at least 76 years old, and 2.3 million when they are over 65.
Two-thirds of the respondents in the latter category were male,
demonstrating that more men plan to work later into life.
As a result, it is important to starting planning early and to ensure your
investment portfolio continues to meet your changing circumstances in order
to enjoy a comfortable retirement.
