Rising property prices, private pension assets, defined benefit schemes and investment returns have helped more than 1m pensioner households to accumulate total wealth of more than £1m, Vince Smith-Hughes has said
The retirement expert at Prudential said latest data from the Office for National Statistics, between 2010-2012, has revealed that there are more than 1m pensioner households in the UK who have more than £1m in net worth each. These account for 11 per cent of all pensioner households, the ONS data showed.
At the lower end, 12 per cent of all pensioner households were worth less than £40,000.
Mr Smith-Hughes said: “Those who will fall into the growing number of pensioner millionaires when they retire need to consider their income options. A professional financial adviser or retirement specialist can help pensioners make the right decisions when the time comes to draw a retirement income from their accumulated assets.”
Key points:
The median value of private pension assess has increased to £82,300, up from £60,000 in 2006-2008.
The number of people who have some private pension wealth has also increased during this period, to 76 per cent from 73 per cent.
Adviser view:
Colin Rodger, director of Glasgow-based Alexander Sloan Financial Planning said: “It certainly emphasises the gap between the haves and the have-nots. It is very difficult for low-paid workers to save out of income, so the workplace pension reforms must be a positive thing for this group, making it easier to build up some pension savings.
“The proposed changes to how you can take income from pension funds should also help encourage saving through auto enrolment schemes, by making pension funds more accessible.”
