Are you aged 50 or older? Do you still work? Chances are even if you have retired from full-time employment you still have some kind of paid work. Thanks to the demise of gold-plated final salary pensions and medical advances prolonging life expectancy, two thirds of workers approaching retirement age admit that they will continue to work in some capacity after they have retired.
While it is unsurprising that many retirees need to supplement their pension income, a recent survey from Towry revealed that a key reason for pensioners continuing employment was for the enjoyment of working. A quarter of the workers aged over 50 they surveyed said they planned to do voluntary work with local charities and in their community.
Towry’s head of retirement planning, Andy James, said: “With people living and staying fitter for longer in retirement – in many cases well into their 80s – those who have carefully laid financial plans for their future now have the flexibility to choose whether they continue working during retirement.”
These findings also tie in with various studies on Alzheimer’s and dementia prevention which show that keeping your brain active, and continuing in engaging low-stress employment into retirement helps to stave off the disease.
This staggered retirement is expected to become increasingly popular, as individuals work out what their financial and social requirements are as they age.
Colin Williams, managing director of corporate benefits at Friends Life, said: “This research confirms what we had long suspected: people are planning to stage their retirement. Although the majority of people want to continue working to some extent in retirement, they need to plan ahead to ensure they can afford to reduce their hours.
“We analysed data and discovered salaries fall by £400 per year once workers turn 50, so people should be saving as much as they can, while they can, before their income drops.”
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