Why are those recently retired working part time?

Published: 03/06/2015

Research has recently revealed that 66% of adults aged 65-74 want to work in their retirement and to have at least part-time hours of work. This compares with 54% who said they’d like to go travelling or on holidays and 44% who wanted to spend time with their partner or family. Richard Espley Head of Equity Release considers these findings.

“It’s difficult to disentangle the different factors prevailing here to determine what’s driving these results. People are now living longer and in better health and so the prospect of decades of retirement may not be appealing to some. For others the transition between working and retirement could be a difficult time emotionally. Whilst some people countdown to the day when they can finally turn off the alarm clock others dread the time when they’ll lose the camaraderie and the sense of purpose that work provides.

“There are those however for whom working part time isn’t so much a choice as a necessity. There are a growing number of people who are financially struggling through their retirement and then there are those who are planning their retirement, realising that they may not be able to make ends meet. The new pension freedoms, introduced this year, have prompted people close to retirement to pay more attention to their pension planning than perhaps has previously been the case and in some cases the information they’ve discovered hasn’t made welcome reading.

“It’s interesting to set these changes alongside the data showing that Equity Release is enjoying a boom time. Not all retireds have the opportunity to work or indeed the health and stamina to sustain this throughout their retirement. As the retireds start to get to grips with in-retirement financial planning so the flexibility that Equity Release offers will, I believe, become more and more attractive.

“I think that it will increasingly become commonplace to release property equity during retirement so that when working becomes too much then the income equity release delivers can supplement pension income. As equity release lawyers we’ve already seen this happening – I’m sure it’s a trend that will only increase.”

Content correct at time of publication