Pension Options at Retirement

updated: January 22, 2010

When you near retirement you are faced with a number of decisions to make and some of the most important will concern your pension provision. These decisions are often so major that they can affect the rest of your life.

This information is designed to assist those who are approaching retirement. If this includes you, then you may have pension benefits in respect of several occupational pension schemes reflecting your work for different employers over the years. You may also have a number of personal pension plans and/or retirement annuity contracts to which you have contributed small, or large amounts at different times in your working life. Then there are your State benefits to consider.

According to research by Paternoster, the life expectancy of the average man in the UK, who is retiring today at age 65, has risen more quickly over the last decade than in any other G8 country, that is, the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.

The average UK man can now expect to live for another 20 years after retiring at age 65, a two year increase just in the last decade. However, this hides the fact that life expectancy in parts of the country, most notably the North East and Wales is lower than the rest of the UK. So the average man retiring today at age 65 in the South East of England is more likely to be able to look forward to almost 25 years of retirement.

Although this research highlighted the increasing life expectancy of men, the average 65 year old UK woman can expect to outlive the average man of the same age by a further 3 years.

To obtain further information please click here for our pdf Guide to Pension Options at Retirement.