Report on retirement income

Nebulous2

Here's an interesting report by Quilter, on retirement income, from a survey of 5000 retired people. 


Quilter Retirement Lifestyle Report - August 2025

Here's the website for anyone who doesn't want to click on a link to a PDF. 

Quilter Retirement Lifestyle Report 2025 | Quilter

This was posted on the pensions forum a few days ago, and I've read most of it today, and will return to finish it later. 

It appears to me to be much more realistic than the PLSA report which has previously been widely criticised on MSE. 

Interestingly our expenditure on transport (running a car and a caravan isn't cheap) on holidays and on eating out are way off the upper end of the scale for any of the groups. The money on transport would barely cover my insurances; breakdown, car and caravan insurance, never mind the servicing maintenance and depreciation. 

Some anomalies I saw -

They were talking about individual income, but later in the report switched to household income.

I couldn't see alcohol expenditure at home, there is groceries without alcohol and eating out, but not beer. 

Then my final takeaway was the anxiety felt by the poor people with assets in excess of £10 million worrying about being able to maintain their standard of living. I realised how blessed I am in not being rich, and not having to share their anxiety. 

So what do you think? Is it an interesting read? Can you relate to the figures and concerns portrayed? 

Organgrinder

I think planning for retirement and having a reasonable level of savings is important, but that people's needs or wants are very different.

My journey has been interesting and my plans have changed greatly. Myself and Mrs O once thought we may well have to work into our mid 60s. We are now planning on retiring at 60 and using our combinations of savings, pension pots and defined benefit pensions until state pension age.

The figures in the report are very similar to the ones we are using although we probably will spend more on holidays.

The options available to us at 60 are the ones currently requiring some thought.

Our position is likely to be:

Combined occupational pensions £30k
Other income £4k
Savings £50k
Pension pots £150k

Our pots could provide us with an additional £25k pa for 7 years although realistically we don't need it. The choices are whether to leave it invested, take a tax free lump sum, take an income and put these into savings.

My head tells me to leave it as the potential returns are greater. But then I think so are the potential losses. 

How much will we need easy access to funds is another consideration too. 

Until a couple of year's ago we had very little savings albeit pension pots of about £70k. We still had what I considered was a large mortgage (£80k which I know is relatively little these days but it still felt like a big debt). Two years later and we are effectively mortgage free, have net savings of about £30k and pension pots of £100k. The next two years will see us boost these to the figures above. 

So yes, I found it an interesting read. But for me, it's whether my own figures are workable that's important.

Albermarle

Although the figures may look more realistic, when you read the report in detail, some of it does not make sense ( as mentioned in the thread on the Pensions forum).
Also one could be sceptical of a report by a Financial Advice company,  that mentions Financial Advisors/ Advice repeatedly. 

missile

"Also one could be sceptical of a report by a Financial Advice company,  that mentions Financial Advisors/ Advice repeatedly." That was my thought too :-)

Nebulous2

Whilst the report does reference how many people have or haven't taken financial advice, and push that point, it does seem to be a genuine effort to paint a picture of the current state of play.

We live in a bubble on MSE, particularly in the pension forum, where many people will die with more resources than they retire with. That isn't the whole picture however. 

On page 23 of the pdf, it says that 17.86% of retirees expect an income drop because they have used up all their investments or savings and 9.69% of people say they have used up their personal pension. Those were concerns raised at the introduction of pension freedoms, but the consensus is largely that the worries did not materialise. That report suggests it is still very much a live issue. 

I'm still not seeing anything to show that the figures given are not realistic. Perhaps relatable is a better word, but that is entirely dependent on your starting point, while they may be relatable to me, they might not be for you. 

Shimrod

missile said:

"Also one could be sceptical of a report by a Financial Advice company,  that mentions Financial Advisors/ Advice repeatedly." That was my thought too :-)

It mentions inheritance tax 37 times across the report, with the conclusion (on p36) that people should take advice. If only one knew of a financial organisation that could provide such as service...

Ordinary_Yet_Unique

Shimrod said:

missile said:

"Also one could be sceptical of a report by a Financial Advice company,  that mentions Financial Advisors/ Advice repeatedly." That was my thought too :-)

It mentions inheritance tax 37 times across the report, with the conclusion (on p36) that people should take advice. If only one knew of a financial organisation that could provide such as service...

Yet only 4% of estates pay it! For most people it is a non issue. 
However, in some sections of this forum you would believe otherwise. For me that is another indication that the original purpose of MSE and its forums is becoming increasingly lost. 
In some areas it is more like a free wealth management advice centre for the very well off.

Albermarle

In some areas it is more like a free wealth management advice centre for the very well off.

It is to some extent. Some people use the Pensions forum in particular as a sounding/info board, rather than having to pay for an advisor ( guilty as charged in that respect).
However if you look at similar forums on personal finance, like Lemon Fool, you can see that the MSE forums on these subjects are more useful to those with little experience or knowledge in these areas, and in general the answers given are usually useful, correct factually and with many pointers in the right direction.
However it is true that the consumer help type threads, are occasionally interspersed with ones asking is ' £3Million enough to retire' 

Yorkie1

Nebulous2 said:

Whilst the report does reference how many people have or haven't taken financial advice, and push that point, it does seem to be a genuine effort to paint a picture of the current state of play.

<snip>

I'm still not seeing anything to show that the figures given are not realistic. Perhaps relatable is a better word, but that is entirely dependent on your starting point, while they may be relatable to me, they might not be for you. 

I got a bit confused with it as it mixed two different bases of calculation. For example, with fuel costs, it gave a cost per person, but if you have two people in a house, their individual costs are going to be far lower than a single person who is heating the house on their own - and so the figures may be meaningless for one or the other household.

Albermarle

Yorkie1 said:

Nebulous2 said:

Whilst the report does reference how many people have or haven't taken financial advice, and push that point, it does seem to be a genuine effort to paint a picture of the current state of play.

<snip>

I'm still not seeing anything to show that the figures given are not realistic. Perhaps relatable is a better word, but that is entirely dependent on your starting point, while they may be relatable to me, they might not be for you. 

I got a bit confused with it as it mixed two different bases of calculation. For example, with fuel costs, it gave a cost per person, but if you have two people in a house, their individual costs are going to be far lower than a single person who is heating the house on their own - and so the figures may be meaningless for one or the other household.

Mixing personal and household figures is probably the main issue , as it confuses things.
However this is a common problem in many money/income/ wealth surveys, including more official ones, like ONS ones .