South & North West: regions with longest retirements
The South West & North West regions are the regions with the longest retirements in the UK, research by Club Vita - part of Hymans Robertson shows, with average years of being retired surpassing 18 years. According to Hymans Robertson, these figures might act as an eye-opener as many people underestimate the time they will spend being retired, with some are already accessing their pension from age 55.
Club Vita, a by Hymans Robertson founded company dedicated to providing longevity services to occupational pension schemes, recently released an analysis into the average time spent in retirement in the UK regions. The analysis is based on research commissioned by Hymans Robertson among 1,000 people nationwide, with figures based on life expectancy at age 65 and the age at which individuals expect to retire by region.
The analysis shows that Scottish people are expected to spend longer in retirement than the English or the Welsh. With an expected retirement age of 65.4 and an average life expectancy of 83.3, Scots will spend on average 17.9 years in retirement. People from Wales are expected to spend the least amount of years being retired, with an average of 15 years.
Although England is found between Scotland and Wales, with an average of 17.7 years spent in retirement, the regions in which people spend the most time being retired are all found in England. The South West is the highest ranking region, with an average of 18.7 years, followed by the North West (18.5 years), the Eastern region (18.4 years) and London (18.2 years).
According to Douglas Anderson, Partner at Hymans Robertson, individuals should take note of how long they will need their pension pots to last in the context of the pension freedoms. “With the allure of a big cash injection proving to be hard to resist for some, hopefully these figures will be a useful prompt to get people thinking about how long their pension pots need to last and encourage them to consider the impact of withdrawals.”
He continues: “Research we conducted last year showed that men underestimated their life expectancy by 5 years and women by 8 years. In that context most are going to underestimate how much time they will spend in retirement and how much money they’ll need to get them through to the end of their lives. In light of that we expect these figures for ‘time spent in retirement’ will come as a surprise to many. […] With around one in ten people living more than 10 years longer than their life expectancy, budgeting for beyond life expectancy is necessary to be sure of being comfortable in late life.”
