Travel is top of the bucket list for three out four workers approaching retirement – even though many have not started saving.
Although huge numbers of over 55s dream of broadening their horizons by visiting other countries, a fifth of workers have no hope of realising that dream because they have no savings and another 10% have less than £500 in the bank.
Although the over-55s are realistic believing they need a pot of around £234,000 to fund a comfortable retirement, this is at odds of the amount they will have saved, says research by The Share Centre.
The average over-55 will have £158,000 saved by retirement – a shortfall of £80,000 on what they feel they need.
Top 10 retirement dreams revealed
Besides travel, the other top 10 retirement activities for the over-55s are:
- Gardening (55%)
- Taking up art or a craft (26%)
- Carrying on with work (25%)
- Working for a charity (24%)
- Spending part of the year overseas (23%)
- Photography (19%)
- Keeping fit or playing sport (18%)
- Visiting music festivals (11%)
- Starting a business (6%)
Six point plan to starting saving
The firm’s chief executive Richard Stone said: “Retirement is all about having the time and money to do the things you really want to do and maybe what you wished to do when you were younger.
“Paying out to indulge yourself is all about balancing spending against savings and making sensible investment decisions.”
Stone explained he has a six step approach to saving and investing that anyone can easily follow.
- Review your finances to work out how much you have to save or invest
- Set up a rainy day fund for emergencies and never invest money you need for day-to-day bills
- Set financial goals and time limits and work out how much you need to save in that time to achieve them
- Think about risk and how much you can afford to lose and invest within those parameters
- Adapt your strategy to your goals and attitude to risk
- Always research before investing
“Most people have a small amount they can save now and then if they look at their finances,” said Stone. “There’s nothing wrong with saving little and often as long as you are saving. Just be honest with yourself about how you spend your money.”
