Government may provide life expectancy estimate to consumers

The government may soon give individuals approaching retirement an estimate of their life expectancy to help with retirement planning, according to reports. The move would be part of a wider campaign by the government to educate the public about their retirement choices and how much income they may need in retirement.Pensions minister Steve Webb told Sky News that consumers needed an idea of how long they might live on average so that they could make informed choices when it came to retirement planning.According to Mr Webb, many individuals underestimated how much they would need to live comfortably in retirement and a significant proportion guessed that they would die earlier than the statistics suggested.Mr Webb told Sky News: "If you are thinking about this, what do you do? For best guidance you probably think about how long your grandparents lived. But that is two generations out of date."{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}It is likely he will ask pension providers to give people an estimate as part of pensions guidance to be rolled out next April. The advice is linked to major pension guidance reforms unveiled in the Budget. Budget changes will drop the obligation to buy an annuity and instead give people more choice about how they take their pension.Mr Osborne said in the Budget that it would provide guaranteed "free, impartial face-to-face guidance" for individuals reaching retirement through a new "duty" on pension providers to deliver the advice.However, while many Financial Planners have welcomed the move some have been sceptical that the relatively low sums to be invested in this service (about £20m nationwide) would provide anything more than the most basic, low cost advice.

Government may provide life expectancy estimate to consumers

Related items