£180,000 'magic sum' for pensioners

A survey compiled by finds the average person over the age of 55 requires an extra £7,300 a year to pay for additional unexpected costs, chief of which are family commitments. A further three quarters of over 55’s believe they still have unfulfilled ambitions, with four in ten believing they will never be able to play them out and a larger proportion putting this down to a lack of cashflow. Ali Crossley, director for Lifetime Mortgages at Prudential, says: “When you put yourself in the shoes of a pensioner, it is really easy to see how unexpected costs can jeopardise retirement ambitions....