Early Retirement and Income in Later Life

There is growing concern about the tendency for retirement from paid employment to take place before state pension age. One of the uncertainties is whether people who retire early have sufficient financial resources to support themselves through possibly thirty or more years of retirement. This report compares the financial position of people in the current pensioner population who retired early with their counterparts who retired at state pension age. Early retirement and income in later life uses statistical methods to compare the two groups. They are matched in terms of key factors known to influence income in retirement including: gender age group housing wealth ownership of financial assets age at leaving full-time education health status. The report suggests that planned voluntary early retirement may not be as disadvantageous to an individual's financial position in later old age as many fear. Early retirement and income in later life will be of interest to all those studying, researching or working in the area of pensions and retirement, from policy makers and pension funds to individuals and their advisers who are involved in retirement planning.