Research from the specialist lender reveals a dislike of the word “retirement”, insights into joint finances, and a need for education around holiday lets

Hodge has released an in-depth report into the attitudes of those over 50 towards retirement and their personal finances.

The study, called “Tired of Retirement”, quizzed around 1,000 people about everything from how they manage their money to whether their attitudes to tech have changed since the pandemic, which Hodge has now turned into a whitepaper to help brokers understand the way this generation think.

Some of the key findings of the report include:

  • One in 10 dislike the word “retirement” as it makes them feel old
  • Nearly half (48%) think retirement should happen when you feel ready to give up work and a third (36%) said retirement should come when you are financially able to give up work
  • The research also looked into how couples manage their money – with nearly 20% of over 50s saying they like to keep their finances separate
  • Just a third (32%) said they know all about their partner’s finances, but a further 12% said they’d like to know more.

Emma Graham, business development director for Hodge, said of the whitepaper: “Every year we carry out various research programmes to help us learn more about our end customer; their hopes, aspirations and financial needs, which is critical for us as a business as it helps shape the products we offer.

“But sometimes we do research which we really feel our intermediary partners need to know more about to help them have the right kinds of conversations with their clients, and this is exactly one of those times.”

Emma explained: “The term “Tired of Retirement” came from the results of the research, the fact so many of the respondents didn’t like the word and didn’t think we should have a set retirement age, set the stage for us to publish this white paper.

“It offers us an in-depth look into how the attitudes and views of those aged 50 plus generally want an active next stage of life and want to use their money wisely to help them get there.

“We felt it important to share these findings with our intermediaries and distribution partners so they can gain a greater insight into this market which will eventually help the end customer get a better service from them and us as a lender.”

Download the whitepaper