New retirees 'have less'

The newly retired have less money and comfort than their predecessors because of the economic climate, an expert has said.

People approaching retirement face tighter pulls on their purses amid rising costs of living, Andrea Rozario, Director-General at Safe Home Income Plans, claimed.

She said: "The difficulty for those that have got their pensions and are coming up to retirement [is that they] are being severely hit."

With annuity rates at an all time low, pensions have been severely debilitated by the credit crunch over the last couple of years, she added.

This has led to new retirees having less income than they had anticipated, with more people opting for equity release as a source of funding.

Ms Rozario said: "Clearly people are coming round to the opinion that using what is your biggest asset to fund a better standard of living in later life makes perfect sense."

The expert also noted that although house prices have come down a little during the economic turmoil, they still experienced a huge increase over the past ten to 15 years.

Posted by Liam Tomlinson