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Being Retired Can Be Damaging For Health, Study Suggests

22 - 05 - 2013

First Alex Ferguson, then David Beckham. Retirement seems to be all the rage at the moment. But what can the average worker expect when they finally hang up their boots? A new study suggests it may not be too rosy on the other side.

Unlike David Beckham – who is retiring at the grand old age of 38 – most people do not retire until they reach at least 62. However, people are retiring earlier than they did 50 years ago and are also living longer; prompting a study examining the relationship between the number of years spent in retirement and health.

According to the study, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), while an initial improvement in health may be experienced after retirement, in the medium and long term, being retired can cause health to deteriorate.

The research, which compared retired people with those who had continued to work past retirement age, found that retirement increases the probability of suffering from clinical depression by about 40 per cent, of having at least one diagnosed physical condition by about 60 per cent and of taking a drug for such a condition by about 60 per cent.

According to the IEA, the study suggests the government should help people work for longer for health as well as economic reasons.

Philip Booth, editorial and programme director at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: ‘Over several decades, governments have failed to deal with the “demographic time bomb”.

‘There is now general agreement that state pension ages should be raised. The Government should take firmer action here and also deregulate labour markets. Working longer will not only be an economic necessity, it also helps people to live healthier lives.’

Self-employment after retirement

If you are considering working beyond the state pension age for health or financial reasons, you may want to consider going self-employed.

Self-employment offers individuals the ability to manage their own time, the freedom to choose the type of work they want to do and a chance to enrich their social lives by working with a variety of people.

We recently reported on an increase in people going into self-employment after state pension age. If you would like to find out more about the self-employment routes available to you after retirement, feel free to contact us on 01244 625 500 for a no-obligation chat.