Only one-third of the Gen X cohort, currently aged 43-58, anticipate retiring by the state pension age.
According to research by Just Group, a significant number of people born between 1965 and 1980 anticipate working over the current retirement age of 67.
Official data shows that retirement ages have been rising for the past 25 years, with an average exit age of 64 for women and 65.3 for men in 2023. According to Just Group’s research, this increase might continue for Gen Xers, who will be eligible for retirement in around ten years.
Around 35 per cent of respondents are positive they would retire by the current state pension age, 38 per cent anticipate working longer, and 27 per cent are unsure. There are gender disparities as well with women less optimistic, 31 per cent compared to 39 per cent of men. Among homeowners, 40 per cent believe they’ll retire by the state pension age, compared to 21 per cent of renters.
Just Group group communications director at retirement specialist Stephen Lowe says: “Generation Anxiety is a term we’ve coined to capture the significant financial, personal and lifestyle pressures facing this cohort aged in their 40s and 50s as the reality of retirement looms large.
“This is the age group most at risk of falling into a pensions gap. Few will be able to rely on defined benefit pensions which provide more generous, guaranteed payments to many of the ‘baby boom’ generation that preceded them, while automatic enrolment into workplace pensions started too late to make much of a difference. State pension age has also been pushed back through their working lives.
“Many will face pressures providing support for other family members such as ageing parents or helping adult children who are struggling financially. With this combination of demands on their purse, it is little surprise that so many of Gen X are expecting to have to keep working later in life.
“Within this group there are winners and losers. Nearly twice as many homeowners as renters expect to stop working at or before 67. Those who live in their own property at retirement do have the benefit of a financial asset they could fall back on if circumstances required later in retirement.
“But that’s assuming they have been able to pay off their mortgages which is by no means certain given the other financial pressures they have faced.”