Older people struggle to save


A QUARTER of people over the age of 50 have no accessible savings, leaving them open to financial difficulties in retirement.

A report by Birmingham Midshires uncovered the disturbing statistic into savings, saying that around 27% of people aged over 50 had no liquid savings. But it was a better figure than the 37% of the population as a whole who did not have any money they could easily access.

Of those people aged over 50 who did have money put aside, nearly half of said they had been forced to raid their savings during between October 2005 and January2006, with 16% saying they tapped into them to pay for higher than expected bills.

One in three people over 50 were unable to save any money in the three months to January, compared with just 16% of people under 30 and 23% of those aged between 30 and 50.

Richard Brown, head of savings products for Birmingham Midshires, said: 'We already know that Britain is in the grips of a pension crisis but it is now evident that a lack of liquid savings are a further cause for concern.

'There is still a need for older Britons to have liquid savings even if they do have a good pension plan. A pension will really only maintain a standard of living at best, with little left over once the essentials have been paid for.'

Overall, people had an average of £11,235 in savings they could easily access, rising to £14,462 among the over 50s.

But older people were also more likely to raid their savings than others, with 47% admitting they had withdrawn money during the three months to the end of January, compared with 39% of people aged under 30 and 42% of 30 to 50-year-olds.

Older people struggle to save

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