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Britons underestimating life expectancy in retirement plans
1 May 2008 12:00
Many Britons fail to recognise that life expectancy is increasing with every generation, according to a new poll, which could result in their retirement preparations falling short.
Men aged 40 today have a two in five chance of living till the age of 90 and a one in 25 chance of reaching 100, while women who are currently 40 have a better than even chance of getting to 90 and a one in nine chance of living for a century.
Yet almost half of all Britons expect to live to around the same age as their parents' generation did, Life Trust insurance's survey showed, with around one in ten believing that their life span will actually be shorter than that.
CEO Andy Briscoe warned that with so many people underestimating their life expectancy, there is a real risk that they are letting themselves in for an uncomfortable retirement, as their incomes fall and their costs increase.
This was underlined in a recent poll by Prudential, which found that workers typically hoped to live on £22,054 per year in retirement and yet that the average pension contribution has fallen by 46 per cent year-on-year to £144.57 a month.
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