Early retirement and income in later life
A comparison of the financial position of those retiring before and at state pension age.
There is growing concern about the tendency for retirement from paid employment to take place before state pension age. One uncertainty is whether people who retire early have sufficient financial resources to support themselves through possibly thirty or more years of retirement. This report compares the financial position of people in the current pensioner population who retired early with their counterparts who retired at state pension age.
Early retirement and income in later life uses statistical methods to compare the two groups. They are matched in terms of key factors known to influence income in retirement including:
- gender
- age group
- housing wealth
- ownership of financial assets
- age at leaving full-time education
- health status
The report suggests that planned voluntary early retirement may not be as disadvantageous to an individual's financial position in later old age as many fear.