Planning Your Finances in Retirement (Infographic)
Today I am pleased to share with you an infographic from Ireland-based insurance company Easy Life Cover (shared with their permission). This covers various aspects of finance in retirement, which is of course a core theme of this blog.
One of the most interesting facts shared in the infographic is that 7 out of 10 pre-retirees say they plan to carry on working in retirement. This represents a sea change from the old days when most people worked till retirement, took their pensions, and lived off that for the rest of their lives.
Nowadays retirement is increasingly done in stages, with many people choosing to work part-time in the run-up to retirement, perhaps switching to a different job or role within their organisation. The concept of semi-retirement would have been barely understood fifty years ago, but is increasingly becoming the norm now. I am 61 and regard myself as semi-retired, incidentally.
And even in retirement, many people choose to continue doing some work, part-time or short-term. As the graphic says, 80% do this because they want to rather than have to. Important reasons might include using (and passing on) skills they have built up over many years, keeping physically and mentally active, and providing a source of engagement outside the home. Many older people do voluntary work, while others do paid work to help supplement their pension.
Thank you to Easy Life Cover for an interesting infographic. You can read more about their mortgage protection insurance here (not a paid or affiliate link).
As mentioned above, the nature of retirement has changed dramatically in recent times. The old certainties are long gone. Retirement is undoubtedly more challenging than it used to be, but with people on average living longer, healthier lives, there are many more opportunities to enjoy this period of life as well. But this does mean it is more important than ever to plan carefully for retirement in order to enjoy it rather than merely survive it.
If you are retired or semi-retired, I do of course regularly list opportunities on this blog to generate extra income. They include home-based opportunities such as matched betting and part-time work in the gig economy, such as supervising property viewings for Viewber.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about this post and the points raised in the infographic, please do leave them below.
November 10, 2017 @ 3:59 pm
HI, a very interesting read. I certainly hope to still be working in retirement, but doing something I enjoy and I can work around my life. Also I never new about Viewber, i’m going to pass this on to my friend who used to be an estate agent!
Thank yu
November 10, 2017 @ 5:02 pm
Thank you for your comment. Yes, I think there’s a lot to be said for doing some enjoyable work in retirement rather than simply watching daytime TV!
November 10, 2017 @ 5:39 pm
Interesting…I was having this conversation with an aquaintance recently and they were echoing your thoughts about working part-time in retirement. I think it’s becoming more and more common these days.
November 11, 2017 @ 12:19 pm
Thanks for your comment. Yes, it’s becoming increasingly common to do this. The growing amount of part-time and gig-economy work can benefit older people, though it may be less good for younger people who require full-time jobs.
November 11, 2017 @ 5:27 pm
Some fantastic advice and tips – I’ll share this with my parents because although they’ve been retired for a while now, they often say how the time has flown by and they haven’t really done much with that time (I think unless there are some goals, some aims, some dreams for retirement, it can become an endless drawn out period of time that can feel wasted). x
November 12, 2017 @ 12:36 pm
Thanks for this. Yes, I do agree with you. It’s nice to put your feet up, but it’s good for both your physical and mental health to have some interests and activities outside the home.
November 14, 2017 @ 6:24 am
Nice infographics, they make everything so much clearer.
November 14, 2017 @ 7:52 pm
Thanks! Yes, I do like a good infographic as well.
November 14, 2017 @ 8:08 pm
This was interesting. Certainly true about people semi-retiring. Gone are the days when people put their feet up at 60 and thats it. Planning is great, but at the same time when you’re stressing about how you haven’t got enough, your’e not paying into your pension etc, its important to remember that not everyone is lucky enough to reach retirement age.
November 14, 2017 @ 8:46 pm
Very true. Sadly that applies to my partner, Jayne, who passed away at 58 from breast cancer. None of us knows how long we have, which does make planning for later life tricky. It is important to plan for a long retirement, but equally you don’t want to lead an unnecessarily frugal existence and pass away with large sums left in the bank. This is the dilemma our modern pension freedoms present to us.