Money News
A global study into retirement has revealed that the majority of Brits anticipate further reforms to the public pension system over the next decade, and fear these reforms will mean they'll have to work longer and retire on less state benefits.
The expectation of reform amongst UK workers (68%) is broadly in line with the international average (66%) with over half of those already retired (54%) also predicting retirement reforms in the next decade.
Amongst those UK workers who feel retirement reform is inevitable, 91% believe it will mean an increase in the number of years they have to work. The UK has one of the strongest expectations of an increase in working years, along with France (89%) and Japan (88%).
In addition, 71% say that reform is likely to reduce public pension benefits. This is higher than the international average (57%) but lower than Japan (94%) and Germany (87%). Workers in China (15%) are least likely to anticipate a reduction in state pension benefits.
AXA's study also reveals that 29% of working Brits and 19% of retired Brits believe social security is in crisis.
Despite this, just over half of all workers (57%) think they'll have enough to live on in retirement, with almost two in three (64%) retirees saying their current retirement income is sufficient - up from 57% last year.
Today's retired population do realise how lucky they are and are sympathetic to the plight of the next generation - 83% thinking they're having a better retirement than their parents did at this stage of life. But only 40% think retirement will be better for their own children.
Steve Folkard, head of pensions and savings policy at AXA says people need to take steps as early as possible to secure their own retirement income. Although the majority of retirees say that their retirement income is sufficient, people still in work should be aware that having a happy and prosperous retirement costs money, so it's vital they plan ahead.
11 April 2008 © Moneyextra.com
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