The Nucleus UK Retirement Confidence Index

Our annual index is the first of its kind. It will track UK retirement confidence over time and act as a basis for, and measure of, the success of collaborative change across the industry.

Decisions around retirement are some of the most important we have to make during our lives. If we, as an industry, are to better support consumers in achieving good outcomes we need a much better understanding of how they feel.

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Andrew Tully, Technical Services Director, explains the findings from our inaugural 2023 Retirement Confidence Index and what action the industry needs to take to make meaningful change to UK retirement confidence.

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The Nucleus Retirement Confidence Index: Six months on

We are continuing to invest in retirement confidence research as we firmly believe in the value of planning and advice.

A lot has changed in the last six months, both economically and politically. To gauge current retirement confidence among UK adults, we have undertaken an interim report, which you can view below. There are a number of key takeaways that can aid you in your conversations with your clients.

The Nucleus Uk Retirement Index score fell to 4.4 from 6.9. That's a drop of 36% in just over six months.

Confidence is slightly higher in those aged 55 and above.

Men are still more confident than women. Both scores are lower than last year and the gender gap remians broadly consistent.

Our next in depth report will be launched in November 2024 to track how retirement confidence has changed over the last 12 months.

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Our 2023 report highlights

The inaugural Nucleus UK Retirement Confidence Index score is 6.9 out of 10 with a negative outlook.

This outlook is based on the decline of defined benefit pension provision and inadequate defined contribution pots, combined with cost of living worries and low expectations around investment returns.

What really makes a difference to retirement confidence is having a plan.

But despite the power of planning, half of UK adults (49%) approaching retirement don’t have a detailed plan in place.

When asked what three words our respondents associate with retirement confidence, the top answers were:

security (51%)

knowledge (37%)

and trust (30%)

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In the 2023 Nucleus UK Retirement Confidence Index you’ll find the full analysis of our consumer and advice professional research.

While confidence levels were surprisingly positive, our evidence shows that meaningful, informed confidence requires financial advice. You don’t know what you don’t know and finding out can be costly.

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