People in the South West spend most time in retirement

People in the South West of England are likely to spend the most amount of time in retirement (18.7 years), compared to counterparts in other areas of the UK, according to research by Club Vita, part of Hymans Robertson.

The study, which surveyed 1,526 UK adults who have not retired, also found that this is followed by the North Eest (18.5 years), eastern areas (18.4 years) and London (18.7 years).

At the other end of the spectrum are the North East (16.3 years), the South East (17 years), the East Midlands (17.2 years), Yorkshire and the Humber (17.3 years) and the West Midlands (17.5 years).

Across the UK, the average time in retirement is 17.5 years.

Looking at retirement lengths by country, people in Scotland spend the longest time in retirement at 17.9 years, followed by England (17.7 years) and Wales (15 years). 

Douglas Anderson, partner at Hymans Robertson, said: “Undoubtedly people’s expectations about when they will retire will be driven by a mix of factors, including job satisfaction, affordability, aspiration and perceived life expectancy.

“It will be interesting to see what effect the pension freedoms have on these expectations when we see the impact of people being able to access their pension savings from age 55, potentially running down pension pots before they even retire. The state pension is £7,500 a year. This won’t be an adequate income for many.

“With the allure of a big cash injection proving to be hard to resist for some, hopefully these figures will be a useful prompt to get people thinking about how long their pension pots need to last and encourage them to consider the impact of withdrawals.

“It’s vital that people seek guidance and/or advice on how to make sure they can get through to the end of their life in dignity.

“Freedom and choice in pensions have made the decisions people now have to make far more complicated.

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“Tools need to be made available to help people understand the impact of their decisions, particularly in relation to withdrawals, from age 55 and not just at the point of retirement. Fortunately, these are emerging.”