A new survey (by retirement technology specialists Dunstan Thomas) suggests that the pandemic has influenced 12 per cent of “Boomers” (aged between 58 and 75) in the timing of their planned retirement – with 1.2 million of them (nine per cent) actually leaving the workforce during the peak two years.

The concern amongst many in the financial sector is that leaving earlier than they had originally planned may lead to many older people being unable to afford the quality of retirement they have been hoping for.

Other stats in “Exploring Baby Boomers’ Lengthening Journeys to Full Retirement” include:

• Three per cent of Boomers admitted they were forced into earlier than planned retirement by being made redundant or losing contract work and not being able to find new paid work.
• Six per cent decided to retire even earlier than planned for another reason that they did not declare (but was not related to being made redundant).
• Two per cent lost their jobs in the pandemic and got a new one with lower salary and less security and have had to postpone their retirement as a result.
• One per cent actually went the other way and decided to postpone retirement as a result of finding a better-paid job.

Dunstan Thomas say that this provides some evidence of the so-called “Great Resignation” of older workers during the pandemic – not least as nine per cent of the Boomers questioned took earlier than planned retirement during the 2020-2021 period, whereas just three per cent admitted deciding to push back their retirement plans during the same period.

For those that did decide to work on longer, the average number of years which they added to their original retirement age expectation was 3.7 years.

Dunstan Thomas has joined the chorus of voices calling for older workers to be encouraged to stay longer in the workforce. They say that: “With fewer older workers in the workforce, some business leaders are already reporting difficulties in training and supporting younger workers, as well as in re-establishing and reinforcing cultural norms of behaviour for interactions with customers.”

Planned retirement ages

The report also found that 31 per cent of the 1,272 Boomers reached in the study wanted to work on beyond State Pension age (currently set at 66) for an average of 4.3 years – taking their estimated age of “full retirement” to 70.3 years.

A quarter (24.5 per cent) had retired or planned to retire at some point between 66 and 68 years – perhaps aligned with their State Pension entitlement. A further 17 per cent estimated they would retire or had retired at a spread of ages from 69 upwards.

A third of this late retiring group (four per cent of the whole sample) made it clear they never planned to stop full-time work. The largest cluster of Boomers giving up full-time work later than 66-68 were those planning to retire between 69 and 71. This group made up seven per cent of all 1,272 Boomers captured in this nationwide study.

The report (https://www.dthomas.co.uk/digitalbrochures/babyboomers/) adds to a growing picture of a hugely dynamic (and often confusing) picture of older people in the workforce, with growing numbers of retirees now looking to “unretire” in order to plug gaps in their income as the spiraling cost of living starts to bite.

Are YOU on course to retire in line with your plans?

If your finances are set to play a part in timing your own retirement, then you might want to ensure that your plans are on track – by using RetireEasy LifePlan. In just a few minutes, you can see, in simple-chart form, just how long your savings and investments will last when you decide to leave the workplace.

What’s more, using the Premium version, you can run different scenarios to see what would happen if you adjust those plans – by leaving earlier or later, downsizing, taking out a lifetime mortgage, or by including or reducing what you are currently saving. Click here to find out more…(link)

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