Why we need to reassess retirement

PENSIONS

It is time to reassess. Certainly the majority of us need to stop pretending that funding a 30-year economically inactive retirement is feasible.

Regrettably, most of the UK population is pretty ill-equipped to make rational long-term financial decisions and as an industry, we have good cause to feel ashamed of our nation’s poor level of financial literacy.  The effects of inflation are little understood – and even if some people do try to plan ahead, most still make poor estimates of likely life expectancy.  I understand that the typical male in his sixties underestimates by about five years, females by three. Other behavioural characteristics enter the mix to tilt the odds against rational action and sensible decision-making....