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Younger workers expect to retire aged 60

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
28/10/2016

UK workers have unrealistic expectations about when they’ll be able to stop work, with young people thinking they’ll be able to retire earlier than any other age groups.

Workers aged between 21 and 30 hope to retire when they reach 60.5 years, while the average target retirement age across all age groups is 61.8 years.

Worryingly, one in ten people have yet to start saving into a pension and won’t until they reach 46 years old, according to a study by Prudential.

Meanwhile, more than half of those under the age of 40 estimate their retirement income will be roughly equal to or below average incomes of those retiring this year. This means people who are anything up to 45 years away from retirement are expecting to be able to live on £17,700 or less a year, which will be worth considerably less in real terms by the time they down tools.

Vince Smith-Hughes, a retirement expert at Prudential, said: “The desire to retire as early as possible is completely understandable, but with life expectancies increasing all the time and the average retirement now lasting over 20 years, it is unlikely to be achievable for everyone.

“As people’s retirements get longer the responsibility for funding them will shift even further towards individuals. Pensions are about saving for the long term so the best way for most people to secure a comfortable retirement is to save as much as possible from as early as possible in their working life.”