A whopping 81 per cent of UK adults who took part in a recent survey said it was important to them to maintain their current lifestyle after retirement. But how assured were they about achieving that?
New research shows that less than half of UK adults are confident they will be able to enjoy financial freedom when they stop work.
However, the findings were skewed by a number of factors. One of those was age: those aged 45 to 54 were the most concerned, with just 29 per cent confident they will have financial freedom in retirement, while 53 per cent of those aged 55 and over were much more confident with saying that.
According to the survey, conducted by Continuum and YouGov, men were also more upbeat than women, with 46 per cent expressing confidence compared to 40 per cent of women.
Marital status had an impact on the findings too, with 53 per cent of people married or in a civil partnership saying they were confident compared to 28 per cent of singles.
In addition, regional disparities were revealed: those living in London were the most likely to be feeling confident they would have financial freedom (47 per cent) while those in the North, East and Northern Ireland were the least confident (42 per cent).
The research also revealed regional differences when it came to the biggest financial concerns for retirement – particularly when it came to the costs of healthcare. In Wales and Northern Ireland, 21 per cent of respondents said this was their main concern compared to just 6 per cent in Scotland.
“Work to be done on under-saving”
Martin Brown, managing partner at Continuum, said: “As the government and pensions regulators announce their latest changes to workplace pensions, our survey shows that there is a lot of work to be done if Britons are to feel confident about their financial freedom in retirement.
“Under saving for retirement remains one of the UK’s biggest challenges with many Brits failing to save enough to maintain their current or desired lifestyle.”
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