Nearly 40% of adults unprepared for retirement
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Over 38% of adults in Britain have made no financial plans for their retirement, shows research from Home & Capital Advisers.
Home & Capital Advisers polled 749 consumers of all age brackets as part of its national retirement planning survey.
It found that of those adults that had not yet started to plan for retirement, some 28% declared they had no intention of doing so.
The average of those making retirement plans is 39.
Almost half of those surveyed - 46%- believe that it is the government’s job to provide for them in retirement.
Nigel Hare-Scott, managing director of Home & Capital Advisers, says: “We’re heading for an age crisis of monumental proportions – at both government and personal levels.
“There persists a misguided view that ‘government will provide’.
“In under a quarter of a century, a sharp increase in Britons reaching retirement age - combined with rising life expectancy - will see the current system overwhelmed and unable to cope.
“At the same time, the proportion of people of working age is in decline, which will force the government to slash benefits. Individuals will be forced to meet the cost of retirement on their own or face poverty.”
One in nine respondents said they would rely on the equity in their homes to support them in retirement.
Hare-Scott adds: “As pensions become less generous in the future, more people will need to use the value of their homes to generate cash or an income - after all, it is by far the most important investment for most individuals.”
On average, respondents believe £21,328 per year in income is needed to live comfortably in retirement.
But this is at odds with the reality of retirement provision, as on average the expected annual retirement income is £15,876.
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