Research: Golden Years? What freedom and choice will mean for pensioners

Since April 2015 people aged over 55 have been able to spend their pension savings however they want after nearly a century of policy stability during which there was an expectation that retirees would annuitise the larger part of their pension savings.

This report:

Examines the long terms benefits and risks of the freedom and choice pension reforms
Uses modelling to assess the implication for UK retirees by looking at the behaviour of retirees in Australia and the USA where similar pension freedoms are in force
Shows that those following the patterns of ‘quick-spending Australians’ (a category identified in the report) could exhaust their pensions by year 10.
Argues that the Government should create a two-tier Early warning system to understand what retirees are doing with their savings and identify emerging long-term risk both to consumers and the taxpayer.

Download the report: Golden Years? What freedom and choice will mean for pensioners