Skipton Building Society Retirement Index

The Skipton Building Society Retirement Index is one of the first comprehensive studies to explore not just financial wellbeing, but also sentiment and confidence, looking at how expectation compares to reality when it comes to planning for life ahead.

• Total interviews: 3,000 men and women across England, Wales and Scotland
• Participants aged 18-75
• Interviews conducted 15th July 2015 – 20th July 2015

Report

• Download the full report and press release

Key findings

• 34% of pre-retired Britons surveyed are confident they’ll be able to live the lifestyle they want in retirement, compared with 65% of retired people surveyed who do.
• A lack of income/money is cited as the main reason (41%) among those retirees surveyed who don’t feel they have the lifestyle they want, followed by poor health (17%).
• Almost a third (32%) of pre-retirees surveyed are not looking forward to retirement and less than a third (28%) surveyed believe their standard of living will be as good, if not better than that of their parents’ generation.
• Compare this with the three-quarters of retirees (74%) surveyed who say their standard of living in retirement is as good, if not better, than their parents.
• While 64% of retirees surveyed were able to stop work and retire when they wanted, half that proportion – only 29% of pre-retirees surveyed – believe they’ll be able to do the same, with just 17% of pre-retirees expecting their retirement years to be the best of their lives.
• 79% of those who we have defined as “happy retirees” took active steps to prepare for their retirement.
• Almost half of retirees surveyed feel they are ‘comfortable’ or ‘well-off’ financially (48%).
• The least optimistic group are pre-retired middle aged people (35-54 years), with just three in ten (31%) surveyed believing they will achieve the lifestyle they want in retirement.
• Retirees surveyed that have achieved the lifestyle they want are more likely to have a DB (defined benefit/final salary) pension, cash based savings and investments than those who have not achieved the lifestyle they want.

Technical Note

• Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 adults in July who were aged 18-75 across England, Wales and Scotland
• Where results do not sum to 100, this may be due to computer rounding, multiple responses or the exclusion of don't know/not stated answers
• The index is made up from six different retirement focused statements that best reflect the attitudes and feelings of those surveyed. The index score is calculated by adding together the proportion of respondents who agreed to each of the selected statements (or disagreed to the one statement where this reflected a positive response). The total was then divided by six to provide the average proportion of respondents who were positive. This figure was divided by 10 to provide in an index score, out of 10.
• All interviews were conducted online and survey data are weighted to the known population proportions of this audience, including age, gender, region, household income and working status