Lessons on retirement - new global research

The Future of Retirement is a world-leading independent research study into global retirement trends, exploring the transition into retirement, pattern of income, spending and saving in retirement, leaving a legacy and how retirement hopes and aspirations match up to the reality.

The latest report* in the series (commissioned by HSBC) surveyed 16,000 people in 15 countries, revealing some important lessons for future retirees and comparing the experience of recent retirees with the expectations of those still working.  You can review the findings by country or by aggregated global results. Link to this report: The Future of Retirement: Life After Work.

Some excerpts from the report:

There is a view among retired people that they might have been too hasty in giving up paid employment. Nearly two-thirds (64%) who entered semiretirement wished that they had delayed it further. This regret is largely for positive reasons, with many retired people seeing work as an important means of keeping the body and mind active.

Economic conditions are not the only challenge facing people as they prepare for retirement. Life expectancy is rising fast, while retirement ages appear to be relatively static. Such expectations will place even greater pressure on household savings. Half of all respondents acknowledged that they are not saving enough, with retirement savings expected to last on average just 10 years into retirement.

The practice of providing an inheritance after we die may itself be changing, as many parents now provide significant gifts and loans during their lifetime to help their adult children cope better with the increasing costs of higher education and housing, another way of transferring wealth between the generations and already a global reality.

With the world’s population of retired people set to increase three-fold to over 1.5 billion by 2050, it is important that the lessons learnt by today’s retirees are passed on to today’s retirement savers.


*The report was written by Cicero Group. More than 125,000 people have been surveyed since The Future of Retirement began in 2005. The latest report, Life After Work is the ninth in the series and represents the views of more than 16,000 people in 15 countries taken between July 2012 and April 2013: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.

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