People in ‘Generation X’ (Gen X) are more likely to plan to work longer rather than to save more for their retirement, research by Dunstan Thomas has found.

When asked what they plan to do to alleviate the problem of retirement income shortfalls, 36.3 per cent of respondents said they were prepared to work beyond planned retirement age.

Just under a third (31.3 per cent) of Gen Xers were prepared to be poorer in retirement, while 26.2 per cent said they would save more between now and their retirement.

The remaining 6.3 per cent said that they planned to emigrate from the UK to cut their cost of living.

Two-fifths of respondents agreed that they were not sure they would ever be able to fully retirement, while 38 per cent said they preferred not to think about retirement as it worried them too much.

Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) said they were holding off on making decisions as they felt retirement was too far off for them to be thinking about.

Dunstan Thomas’ survey found that over half (52 per cent) of Gen X thought they would ‘probably’ take a part-time paid job in semi-retirement, while 27 per cent said they would ‘definitely’ do so if they could.

Commenting on the findings, Dunstan Thomas director of retirement strategy, Adrian Boulding, said: “Gen Xers are going to forge a new normal for retirement, with 40 per cent of them already telling us that they will never fully retire. The old ways of giving up work while still perfectly fit and able will become the preserve of a shrinking wealthy elite.

“It’s high time government and policy-makers alike woke up to the coming reality of Gen X’s retirement and built planning tools and tax incentives that cater properly for a prolonged period of dovetailing part-time employment with irregular withdrawal of some pension income.”

Gen X is typically categorised as people born between 1965 and 1980.

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