Member Article

Baby-boomers forced to delay retirement

The future UK economy will rely on an army of “aging entrepreneurs”. That’s the finding from the latest Open University Business School research report.

The Barclays-sponsored survey of over 250 owner managers conducted between September and October 2008 reflects the gathering storm of recession and finance market turmoil. Around one third of respondents expect to struggle on their pension and half of those aged 60 or over expect that they will have to carry on in business longer than they intended due to the economic downturn.

The average age of retirement is likely to be 67, with a significant number resigned to working into their 70s. Only 18% expect to have a comfortable pension when they retire. 8% of small business owners report they do not have any pension provision at all.

Professor Colin Gray of the Open University Business School, and editor of the survey said: “These rather alarming findings reflect the steadily falling sales and consumer demand measured by our surveys over this past year.

“The findings suggest that the effects of the downturn may be deeper than feared and provide further evidence in support of recent calls from many quarters for special measures to help small firms withstand the full force of the recession.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .