THE cost of living crisis has led to a wave of "retirement anxiety" amongst Scots over 40, with some seeking medical advice.
Nw research has revealed that more than half (54%) of Scottish adults have admitted experiencing feelings of anxiety at the prospect of retiring Just under one in ten are speaking to a doctor about their concerns, with the same number being kept up at night.
And almost a quarter (24%) state ‘retirement anxiety’, fuelled by emotional and financial concerns, is causing them to delay retirement.
The research from investment firm abrdn, formerly Standard Life Aberdeen plc, shows that the 40-44 age group were the most anxious (61%), despite being further away from retirement age.
It comes as Age UK warned that "unprecedented numbers of pensioners may die in their homes this winter without government help to pay spiralling energy bills.
Age UK has written to Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, urging them to commit publicly to emergency support for older people and those on low incomes to keep their homes heated.
According to the new research, the majority experiencing retirement anxiety in Scotland (72%) attribute it to not having saved enough money throughout their lifetime.
Concerns about the current economy and its impact on investments and pensions was cited by almost two in five of those questioned in Scotland (39%).
Over one in four (28%) of over 40s in Scotland were worried about being pigeonholed as old and losing their identity when they stop work (24%).
Planning for retirement is now regarded as a "stressful life event", with one in ten (10%) citing it as worse than moving house.
Psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos, said: "Retirement anxiety is an emotion of concern or worry, experienced by people yet to retire, about the prospect of retirement. This could be a concern about how they will fill their time, financial worries or perhaps feeling a loss of identity. It’s a significant issue that a growing number of people are seeking medical help with.
“There are two key reactions to issues that cause stress, one is to ignore them which just delays finding a solution to the problem. The other is to panic which can also exacerbate it. People experiencing retirement anxiety may be thinking about it constantly, be unable to sleep, and generally feeling overwhelmed – it can impact their relationships and performance at work.”
The research also found life and personal relationships are also suffering, with 17% stating that their personal life and relationships are being impacted and 4% saying it’s affecting their work.
Almost a quarter (24%) say they will delay retirement due to the anxiety.
Dr Papadopoulos urged people to open up about retirement anxiety and face it head on.
“The key to conquering any stressor is to address the issue by first acknowledging it, and then seeking constructive and informed support to deal with it. Retiring is one of those big steps we know we’ll take at some point in our lives and we can reduce the risk of ‘retirement anxiety’ by starting to prepare as early as possible.”
Another factor in the increase in ‘retirement anxiety’ is people’s concern about their lack of planning with 30% in Scotland saying they were embarrassed about their lack of planning and 15% saying they are nervous about seeking advice.
Age UK’s survey of more than 14,000 over-65s about what their priorities were for the next prime minister found that more than half (57%) said restoring the pensions triple lock from April 2023 and help with the cost-of-living crisis was what they wanted to see the most.
A quarter (25%) of those questioned said they wanted to see action on the NHS and social care.
Colin Dyer, client director at abrdn said: “It’s clear that this growth in retirement anxiety is being fuelled by the cost-of-living crisis and worries about the economic landscape.
"Planning for retirement early can help alleviate worries and anxiety and people shouldn’t be embarrassed to raise issues they are not sure or concerned about – ‘it’s ok not to know’.
"There are enormous benefits to seeking advice from a professional adviser, in order to get a clearer understanding of income and savings and how to best prepare for this important life stage."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel