Scottish Widows have claimed that almost two-thirds of self-employed people in the United Kingdom are not saving for their retirement, which leaves six out of ten people in this field in a vulnerable position. The recent study has found that 54per cent of self-employed people only became self employed during the last five years and brings attention to the fact that we may find ourselves striking out alone at the age of 50.
Although the self-employed may not be saving as well as they should, they appear to be more motivated in their work and only 36per cent said that they would stop work tomorrow if they could, compared to 46 per cent of employed people.
Our view
Make no mistake, many self employed people will be saving but not necessarily in pensions and traditional savings plans. They will be investing in the ‘goodwill’ of their business. They will be investing in plant, machinery and equipment.