Pension News Property Means Pension For Seven Million Brits

Written by Editorial Team
03 August 2007

Seven million Britons are relying on their home to provide for them during their retirement, according to research from personal finance website Fool.co.uk.

Five out of nine people do not think their pension will be sufficient to survive on when they stop working, the research reveals, and two out of seven property owners plan to release equity from their home in order to supplement their income.

One in two will do this by downsizing to a smaller property, and three out of five people are currently contributing something to their pension pot to help keep themselves afloat when the time comes to retire.

The research has illustrated how changing property prices influence the way that people perceive traditional pensions; one in four people use the rising house prices as a reason for cutting their pension contributions, because they cannot afford to contribute a great deal in addition to keeping up with escalating mortgage repayments.

Those who are in their 40s are most likely to be considering home equity release when they retire, which could account for the fact that more than half of people aged between 42 and 49 consider their mortgage repayments a higher priority than making pension contributions.

David Kuo, Head of Personal Finance at Fool.co.uk, commented: “Given the housing boom of the last few years it’s not surprising that some people have turned their backs on traditional pensions and focused instead on the value of their homes.

“However, it is vitally important to maintain a proper balance to ensure that we are not overly dependent on any one investment. It is tempting to think that we can ignore other investments just because the value of our home has gone up significantly. When retirement time arrives, it is much better to be able to choose whether we want to downsize or release equity rather than be forced into a decision that we may live to regret.

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