New research from Prudential has found that nearly three million UK adults have delayed their plans to retire due to recession, personal financial emergency or simply because they want to keep working for longer to build a larger pension fund.
The Class of 2010 survey found that 9% (more than 1.6 million people) have put their plans for retirement on hold due to personal financial emergencies or the impact of the recession.
7% are giving up their retirement plans in favour of working in an effort to boost the value of their pension funds so they can have a bigger income when they retire at a later date.
Over 710,000 people in the UK fear they will now never be able to afford to retire completely. This represents nearly a quarter of UK adults.
These numbers suggest that urgent action is needed to put retirement savings plans back on track. Whilst pension funds suffered as a result of the stock market falls during the recession, the markets have rallied strongly since last March and pension funds should have recovered in line with this rally.
The combination of a suitable investment strategy for retirement savings and fully understanding the options for converting a pension fund to income in retirement can often mean a perceived delay to retirement can be avoided.
