More than one in five (19%) of respondents between the ages of 66 and 71 are still working full or part-time to supplement their retirement incomes, according to research by Dunstan Thomas.
Its survey of 1,002 UK adults aged 54-71 also found that over half (56%) are currently working, or are predicting they will have to work, full or part-time to top up their income beyond the state pension age of 65 years old. In addition, 35% of respondents do not know exactly how much income they would need to live on in retirement.
The research also found:
- 42% of respondents aged 54-59 cannot approximate their future retirement income.
- Just 17% of respondents know exactly how much income to expect when they retire.
- 48% of respondents have a defined benefit pension arrangement, 15% are in an occupational defined contribution pension scheme and 15% are wholly dependent on the state for retirement income.
- 43% of respondents think they will be spending the same amount on supporting family members in retirement, as they do while working. More than a third (35%) of respondents who care for a family member predicted an increase in the family care burden being carried by them personally once they are retired.
- 29% of respondents were likely to, or had already, downsized their home to supplement their retirement income.
- 29% of respondents did not understand the options that are now open to them above the age of 55 under the pension freedom rules.
- 22% of respondents would access the pensions dashboard, due to be introduced by 2019, to assess if they have saved enough for retirement, compared to 15% who want to use it to run comparisons between different decumulation options. A further 13% want to work out how much they need to set aside to ensure they have enough for retirement.
Adrian Boulding, director of retirement strategy at Dunstan Thomas, said: “These findings confirm our view that consumers will not take kindly to a dashboard that does not support post-retirement decumulation decision-making, as well as pre-retirement accumulation and at retirement decision-making.
“This line between pre and post-retirement is irreversibly blurred and dashboards must reflect this.”
