UK optimism about retirement lags US and Canada

Britain’s optimism about their retirement is lagging behind the USA and Canada according to research from Sun Life Financial of Canada.

The Unretirement Index launched today in the UK assesses optimism on a scale of 0-100 with 100 representing extreme optimism. The first UK Unretirement index score is 35 registering a low level of optimism towards retirement. The Index is already well established in both the US and Canada with both markets recording higher scores than the UK this year. While the Canadian score was a distinctly average 51 the US was lower at 46.
Other findings included that 34% of consumers would prefer to work longer if their expected retirement income proved lower than anticipated. 15% said they would spend less while 27% would save more. Almost six out of ten consumers surveyed said they expected to be in part or full time work post 65.
"As a nation, people are collectively feeling unprepared," said Sun Life Financial of Canada, head of marketing Mark Stopard. "Without doubt retirement is now more of a process and does not happen overnight. Consumers need more flexibility than ever before as they look to phase into retirement, with the solutions they will increasingly need adapting to their changing needs.
"Britain has now declared itself unretired and it will be interesting to see how the economic climate and the new Coalition Government influence consumer attitudes and how our Unretirement Index measures later in the year."