Auto-enrolled could accumulate £1.64mn pot over 70 years

In light of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on June 3, the financial services company said Her Majesty is leading the generation of older workers, having been on the throne for 70 years.

Helen Morrissey, senior pensions and retirement analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the Queen has spent 70 years in the same job and her reign reflects two inescapable facts — that we are living longer, and working patterns are changing to reflect this. 

Therefore, Morrissey noted it is vital that people make enough provision of their own, by making ongoing payments to a workplace pension through auto-enrolment to boost their financial resilience. 

“This enables people to benefit from an employer contribution and tax relief on top of their own contributions to build a decent level of pension,” she said. 

“The Queen’s 70-year working history is an extreme example, but someone on average wage over that period could accumulate a pension worth a whopping £1.6mn — clear evidence of the power of pensions in practice.”

Morrissey explained that as many people live longer, more people are choosing to work past traditional retirement ages, either because they want to or because they need the extra money.

“It demonstrates the tricky balancing act facing many governments of how best to fund these longer lives,” she said.

“As the population ages, we have fewer younger workers supporting a burgeoning older population who could be drawing a state pension for 30 years or more. 

“Whether this should translate to further state pension age increases is the subject of an ongoing government review.”

Morrissey added: “The 96-year-old monarch has certainly cut back on her workload in recent years and the advent of online platforms like Zoom means she can do many appointments online, but she still maintains a busy working schedule.

“Added to this the oldest living man recently celebrated his 113th birthday. If he lived in the UK, he would have been in receipt of state pension for 48 years. The number of people hitting and celebrating their 100th birthday continues to grow.”

This article originally appeared on FTAdviser.com