Money alone does not lead to a better later life
A new study conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the Centre for Ageing Better reveals that social connections are as important as money and health to a good later life
The research reveals the strong links between health, financial security and social connections in determining whether we enjoy our later life. It is possible to enjoy a happy and fulfilled later life despite having some health and money problems.
New analysis has identified six groups based on their happiness with later life. These are:
- Thriving Boomers
- Downbeat Boomers
- Can Do and Connected
- Worried and Disconnected
- Squeezed Middle Aged; and
- Struggling and Alone.
Social connections matter across all groups but a large group of people, predominantly in their 50s, are squeezed today and risk having a difficult future.
The ‘Squeezed Middle-Aged’ (representing over 2½ million people aged 50 and over in England ) are at risk of missing out on a good later life. Many are caring for children and parents, they have little time to socialise or money to spare. They report being too busy to build or maintain relationships with 45% of this group saying that they sometimes or often lack companionship. People in their 50s are also less likely to say they are ‘satisfied with their lives’ than those in their 60s or 70s .
The ‘Can Do and Connected’ group (representing over 3½ million in England) are mostly in their 60s and 70s and show how important social connections are in later life. Their health is worse than average, they have typically had a number of stressful life events and yet have high levels of happiness. This seems to be due to the strength of their supportive connections. This is in sharp contrast to the group we call ‘Worried and Disconnected’ who are similar in terms of age and health, have more stable finances and yet have a much lower sense of happiness. This is largely due to having fewer social connections, some of which had been lost when moving from work in to retirement.
Ipsos was commissioned by the Centre for Ageing Better to undertake a mixed-methods piece of social research, involving analysis of from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (Wave 6 2012-13) to identify groups of people with similar experiences of later life, in-depth interviews and visits with people in each group, and a survey of 1,389 people aged 50 and over in England carried out on Capibus.
The Centre for Ageing Better will develop and use this evidence about what works to help bring about improvements in later life.
Please visit the Centre for Ageing Better Later Life 2015 web page for more details and interactive data from the research.
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