SMEs put retirement plans on hold
Apr 01 2009
Retirement plans may have to wait
The recession is causing owner-managers to delay retirement plans.
Almost a third of small- and medium-sized business owners will need to put plans for their retirement on hold because of the downturn, an online survey by the University of Nottingham Institute for Enterprise and Innovation (UNIEI) has revealed.
Alan Gold, 64, has been self-employed for the last 20 years and currently owns the UK rights to Treepodia, a video technology company.
He says: ‘The main problem with the recession is that it hasn’t exactly done wonders for my pension.
‘I will be drawing my pension in October and intend to move to Israel to spend more time with my grandkids. However, for me it will be a case of relocation rather than retirement.
‘I’m going to need more money, partly because my pension has been affected. I suddenly looked at my figures and a third of its value seemed to have been lost overnight.’
Last month, a survey by Clifton Asset Management (CAM) revealed that nine per cent more owner-managers were planning to put their retirement plans on hold compared with six months ago.
Neil Greenaway, managing director at CAM, says: ‘Clearly, the immediate outlook for the SME sector is not all bad. Nonetheless, the key findings of our survey tell their own story, particularly in regard to people’s retirement and pension plans, and the absence of any sign of a thaw in the freeze on bank lending.’
Of the 121 respondents polled, 84 per cent said that banks were not helping their businesses, with credit provision being either very limited or non-existent.
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