A report examined the financial resilience of people who recently retired to economic, health, and lifestyle 'shocks'. It considered three scenarios during the early years of retirement in terms of their impact on retirement incomes and spending needs: a period of unexpectedly high inflation; the onset of a moderate severity disability or health issue; and the early death of a partner.

Source: Melissa Echalier, John Adams, and Mel Duffield, The Financial Resilience of the Recently Retired, Pensions Policy Institute

Links: Report

Date: 2014-Jun

A report examined the nature of poverty among older people in Wales. It said that relatively low numbers of older people had occupational or personal pensions, and 8 per cent of older households lived in severe poverty. The report said that, although some progress had been made in the 1990s and early 2000s in reducing pensioner poverty, more recently the impact of rising costs, low interest rates, and reduced annuity rates had created greater pressures on older households. The report said that benefits were under-claimed, and called for a range of measures, including for more advice and information services to enhance income maximization efforts, and for action on a range of measures such as fuel poverty, care costs, and transport costs.

Source: Life on a Low Income: The reality of poverty for older people in Wales, Age Cymru

Links: Report | Guardian report | Inside Housing report

Date: 2014-May