Retirement delayed by a year

Brits are expecting to retire later – delaying taking their pension by one year.

Research by Barings shows UK residents now expect to delay taking their pensions until 63 – compared to 62 last year.

Those aged 18 to 24 now expect to work two more years.

Some 15 per cent of those polled expect not to retire until 66 or later and 3.5 per cent said they would work until at least 76.

A total of 19 per cent of those who are not yet retired expect to be able to retire with a Defined Contribution (DC) scheme or money purchase pension, and 34 per cent are relying on their Defined Benefit (DB) final salary related scheme.

Thirty-five per cent have made no pension provision at all.

Marino Valensise, chief investment officer at Barings, said: “People have to start taking a more proactive approach to planning for their retirement, especially given the recent market conditions.

"Relying on a DB scheme is no longer an option for many UK adults and relying on your property as a pension is a very risky strategy to take."

He added: “These figures reveal a worrying trend of UK adults assuming that they will be in a position to retire without having made the necessary arrangements for funding that retirement.

"It is absolutely vital that we all start considering how best to build our pension fund from the day we start working. Unless we make the correct provisions now, that target age for retirement will slip further and further away.”