On the go: Adults aged over 50 in the UK are worried about their financial future, with almost a third admitting to concerns that they will not have enough money to live off in later life, according to research by SunLife.
The ‘Finances after 50 2021’ report, commissioned by SunLife, surveyed 3,000 adults aged over 50 about their savings and investment habits and found a significant proportion feel financially insecure about later life.
The report found that only 20 per cent of respondents are confident they have enough in their savings, pensions and investments for when they leave work, while 32 per cent worry they do not have enough money to get by.
While the proportion of people over 50 with a private pension has increased by 3 per cent since 2019 and the average pension pot has risen to £166,579 in 2021 from £141,712 in 2019, 25 per cent of those surveyed reported they had no private or company pension to supplement their income during retirement, SunLife found.
Of that 25 per cent, the majority said they will either be entirely reliant on the new state pension of £9,300 a year (£179 a week) as their main source of income, or plan to continue working to fund themselves later on in life.
“Not having enough to get by” was cited as the main reason for financial worries in the future, followed by concerns over having a pension shortfall in second place, and fears around not being able to pay bills in third.
Ian Atkinson, SunLife’s marketing director, commented: “The past year has impacted so many of us but it’s also given many a moment’s pause to reflect on our finances and indeed our retirement prospects.
“Many people told us they fear that they won’t have enough money to pay their bills, and some even told us they fret about not being able to support and feed their families when they give up work,” he added.
“But it’s not all doom and gloom despite the pandemic — people over 50 have on average added an extra £3,854 to their savings and investments over the past two years. The majority of adults over 50 make low-risk savings and investment decisions, with 80 per cent stashing their savings in a savings account.”
Richard Butcher, managing director at independent trustee company PTL, also said that not nearly enough is being done to prepare for the impact of an increasingly ageing society, with most of the industry massively underestimating the long-term implications and not making appropriate plans to deal with the challenges ahead.
“We are all living longer, which is a good thing, but this means people need more retirement savings and are therefore working longer, pushing the retirement age steadily year on year,” he noted.
