Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Only one in four in the North East are confident they can afford to retire according to research by Opinium for Hargreave Lansdown.
Further research showed that only a quarter (26%) of people from the North-East and the East Midlands said they felt confident about their retirement prospects, whilst only 18% of people in the North East knew how much they had in their pensions.
In the North East and Scotland just under a quarter (24%) knew how much income they would need in retirement whilst London scored highest across all questions with almost half (49%) saying they understood how much their pensions were worth, 41% confident they knew how much money they would need to retire, 49% understood their retirement options and 44% had a clear plan on how and when they would finish work.
Commenting on the findings Helen Morrissey, Senior Pensions and Retirement Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said “While London was a relative hotspot of retirement confidence this quickly evaporates outside the capital with areas like the North East and East Midlands consistently ranking at or near the bottom. These gaps in knowledge are putting peoples’ chances of a comfortable retirement in serious jeopardy.”
“People may have other financial priorities or feel their retirement is too far away to think about. They may not know where to go to get more information, but the key is to engage with your long-term savings. It is never too early – or indeed too late – to do this. You can still make positive improvements even in the years leading up to retirement.”
“Having a good idea of how much you have in your pension is an ideal first step. Then you can think about the kind of retirement you want in terms of where you want to live and what you want to do and see whether you have enough in your pension to meet your needs. Your pension provider or a service like Pension Wise can give you information about your options and the steps you can take to get the kind of retirement you want.”
