In contrast to the Britannic research posted here today , Prudential have issued their own research saying that half of the UK's 10m pensioners are having to make cut-backs on spending.
Their research concedes that over 2m have gone back to work in some shape or form to keep them active as well as over 200,000 have broken the law to increase income.
Our view
By breaking the law we assume Prudential mean that they may have un-wittingly not completed their tax returns correctly or not declared some income - or indeed claimed some benefit from the State without dislcosing all of their assets. This is common and normally comes to light, we are sorry to say, on death, when probate is granted and the State then investigates what benefits have been paid and claimed. If something has not been disclosed, any overpaid benefit is claimed back. The reality is that State Benefits tend to be inflation linked and therefore, benefits are not keeping pace with earnings (earnings generally rise faster than inflation). On top of this many pensioners are not aware that there are many types of investment that can deliver income with no liability to tax on "income" and no impact on age allowance.
Visit our Help Zone if you are a pensioner and would like advice on tax efficient investment, whether is it low or high risk, where we can help you get your money to work better for you and pay less tax.