Guest post courtesy of Warde Graham’s independent financial advisers in Glasgow, Scotland (www.wardegraham.co.uk). They have a wealth of experience with retirement planning and other types of financial advice.

More of the over-50s than ever before expect to have to work past the state retirement age, according to research from LV. On average they intend to carry on working for an extra 6.2 years.

retirement-work“With the Government increasing the state pension age we would hope that those approaching retirement wouldn’t feel they need to work beyond it,” said Ray Chinn, LV= Head Of Pensions. “Unfortunately, this is not the case as many find that they have insufficient funds in their pension pots.”

“Although there are many people who feel too young to retire and want to work for as long as they can, our research shows the majority say they will be forced to do so to survive financially,” he warned.

Late retirement expectations

The number of over-50s expecting to work past the state retirement age has increased by 43% over the past two years, and now stands at 6.5 million, according to the annual Working Late Index from LV=.
Women appear to be the most pessimistic, with 4.1 million intending to carry on working, compared to 2.4 million men. However women expect to work only for an extra 5.8 years, while men intend to work 6.9 years past state retirement age.

Regional differences

London is the place where over-50s say they will work furthest past the state retirement age, at an average of 7.4 years. Those in Scotland come a close second, with those who plan to work past state retirement age expecting to do so for an additional 7.1 years on average.

The South East, the North East and the West Midlands follow close behind, at 6.6. 6.5 and 6.4 years respectively.

The place where the over-50’s thought they would have to work the least number of extra years is the East Midlands, where they expect to work only 4.9 years past state retirement age.

Driven by necessity

LV= highlights a number of reasons why people expect to work longer.
Over half (52%) of working over-50s who expect to work beyond state retirement age cite ‘affordability’ as their main reason, while a third (36%) will stay in work because they enjoy it.
This is a drop from the 43% who said in 2010 that they would stay on at work because they liked it – indicating that working past retirement is becoming less of a choice and more driven by necessity.

Going back to work after retirement

The study also reveals that almost 4.3 million over-50s had retired but since returned to work.

While some felt too young to retire (32%) and missed working life (30%), others wanted to give something back by working for charity (22%). However, 14% admit that their personal pension wasn’t enough to live on, and nearly one in ten (9%) had to return to work because the state pension wasn’t enough to support them.

One in five of those returning to work from retirement (20%) said they had made a complete career change, and almost one in ten (9%) said they had set up a business and were now working for themselves.