Almost a fifth of UK adults aged 50 and over believe that the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted their retirement plans, or may do, a new study by Co-op Insurance has uncovered.
Of these, a quarter claim that they’ve been unable to retire due to their finances, a fifth have had to dip into their savings due to being out of work, while a tenth have retired sooner than planned due to redundancy.
Moreover, the study found that the coronavirus pandemic has encouraged almost a third of adults aged 50 and over who have yet to retire to do so sooner.
Graham Ward-Lush, head of life insurance at the Co-op, also revealed that 43% of the over-50s had expected to spend more time with relatives over the last few months.
“It’s perhaps no surprise that so many people over the age of 50 are disappointed with how the pandemic has affected their retirement plans, with so many envisaging more of this time being spent with friends and family.”
A total of 2,000 adults aged 50 and over took part in the study, which was carried out by Atomik Research on behalf of the Co-op.
Of the those that have already retired, 23% said that COVID-19 has affected their plans to spend time with friends and family, while 20% have not been able to travel as they’d planned.
When looking at how this impact on retirement plans has made people aged 50 and over feel, 49% said that they have realised how important friends and family are.
However, 44% said that they feel annoyed with the impact, and 27% think they need to make up for lost time.
“It’s encouraging to hear though that despite this situation being frustrating and disappointing for so many, people are now planning to make up for lost time,” Ward-Lush added.
Author: Chris Seekings
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