In the latest report by the Pensions Policy Institute, they suggest that many pensioners will not be able to retire in the lifestyle that they desire on their pension income alone. It has been reported that many are now looking to other assets, such as their home, to supplement the income they receive through their pension.

Interestingly, the report takes a prospective look 20 years into the future to assess the state of retirement for us Brits. They conclude that by 2030, lifetime low earners should be able to maintain a similar standard of living compared to their working-lives, assuming the basic state pension is re-indexed to earnings. However, this is not the case across the board. They suggest that many median earners contributing around 10% of their salary into a pension will not have sufficient state and private pension income to achieve their desired lifestyle in retirement. They estimate that one would require a contribution of around 15% of their annual income in order to retire in their desired way.

One of the reports main conclusions were that people need to start contributing more to their pension during their working lives or face running down their savings and assets considerably in order to achieve their desired standard of living in retirement. The upside is that the report also found that the vast majority of pensioners in years to come would have accumulated a considerable amount of housing wealth. This leaves them with a variety of options to help finance their retirement. One such option is equity release, which has certainly grown in popularity in recent years with more people reaching retirement age with an insufficient amount of income from a pension.