Research findings from J P Morgan Fleming raise concerns about the number of people that face near-poverty and a huge drop in their standard of living at retirement.
The research highlighted that people living in the South West are most likely to see falls in standards of living. According to the results, only 20% of people in the South West will be comfortable in retirement, receiving 50% or more of their pre-retirement income. Two thirds are predicted to be in poverty.
People living in Northern Ireland are apparently predicted to have the most comfortable retirement with 36% receiving 50% or more of their pre-retirement income.
Our View
Retirement is going to come as a huge shock to the majority of the population of the UK.
Pensions are not what they used to be and lifestyles and spending now tend to take over when saving used to be. The more 'leisure' people are involved in, the harder they will be hit when people realise what an absolute pittance the State pension is.
Anyone that is working at the moment cannot afford to ignore retirement. The State will only provide a subsistence level of income and people just existing will take over from them living their lives.
If you want to enjoy your retirement you have to save and provide for yourself - no one else is going to do it for you.