Study claims to show how much you need to be happy in retirement

pterri

Hmmmmm…..sounds a bit flakey to me. 

https://group.legalandgeneral.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-make-you-happy-the-happiest-retirees-have-222k-in-their-pension-pot

Phossy

Why is it flaky? It is a study of 3000 retiree (rather than the 125,some of which are retired, that the PLSA study is based on).

It's not about the 222k in a pension pot, it's more about £1700 / month for an individual (without any mortgage payments) as best I can tell.

Stubod

...so if you make £2k a month, you would be happier if you gave £300 a month to somebody else??......sounds good to me??

eskbanker

It doesn't make any sense to me!

They claim that "The happiest retirees have an average monthly income of £1,700" and then present a graph which doesn't seem to correlate with that at all and suggests to me that the happiest are those on about £6K:



However, I don't see any link to the report itself, rather than just the press release, so there may be some more sensible joined-up thinking within the underlying analysis....

pterri

Also, ‘happiness’ is a vague term. I guess there is no right answer to this, which is why understanding YOUR number is so important 

sgx2000

So.... A Pension company suggesting you need a large pension invested with them...

roflol

Triumph13

Talk about weasel words!  The actual finding is more like "if you have £1,700 or more a month you are likely to be happier than the average retiree"

Sarahspangles

eskbanker said:

It doesn't make any sense to me!

They claim that "The happiest retirees have an average monthly income of £1,700" and then present a graph which doesn't seem to correlate with that at all and suggests to me that the happiest are those on about £6K:



However, I don't see any link to the report itself, rather than just the press release, so there may be some more sensible joined-up thinking within the underlying analysis....

I think they meant say that once your income exceeds £1700 a month, each extra £ doesn’t make that much difference to your happiness and over £6000, lugging it all about is a positive chore.

JoeCrystal

Bah. As if money can solve everything! You can have just a high enough income but still be miserable. 

The one I am interested in is to listen to https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/living-standards-in-later-life/ tomorrow.

Now, that is a far more critical topic worthy of consideration as it affects far more people across the country, considering most people in the private sector are in DC pension schemes! Still... I cannot help but think it will reach the same conclusion as Legal & General; I can see People's Pensions fund this particular topic this time! The report referenced earlier suggests increasing contribution to 10%; I wonder what tomorrow will suggest? My crystal ball says 12% 

eskbanker

pterri said:

Also, ‘happiness’ is a vague term. I guess there is no right answer to this, which is why understanding YOUR number is so important 

To be fair, they do claim to be using some sort of quantifiable measure:

The Happiness Research Institute builds on measurement guidelines and benchmarks from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations (UN) to measure people’s happiness. The report, produced in partnership with Legal & General, studied the lives of 3,000 retirees, to explore multiple wellbeing measures of people in later-life such as social connections, health and income to analyse the role money plays in a happy retirement.

Sarahspangles said:

I think they meant say that once your income exceeds £1700 a month, each extra £ doesn’t make that much difference to your happiness and over £6000, lugging it all about is a positive chore.

Yes, they do seem to be trying imply that the £1700 figure is some sort of sweet spot:

But while higher incomes do coincide with greater happiness among retirees, the boost they bring begins to level off as income surpasses about £2,000 a month.

although I'm unconvinced that the graph really supports that!

Phossy

For all you Meldrews out there.

World Happiness Report Data Dashboard | The World Happiness Report