He explains: "Assuming the vaccine is effective then 2020 and 2021 may just be viewed as a bump in the road, with future years potentially seeing a return back to the long-term trend of rising life expectancy.
“As things stand, a healthy 65-year-old should still be planning for a retirement that lasts into their late 80s and beyond.”
The need for protection
According to Alan Chan, director for IFS Wealth & Pensions, Covid-19 has also brought to the fore the importance of having adequate protection in place for the client and their family.
He comments: "The clients’ financial plans are all built on the premise that clients will continue working all the way up until retirement in most cases and earning a salary to build for their future.
"Should the clients not be able to work anymore, whether that’s due to ill-health or death, then they run the risk of their financial plans failing."
Chan says this risk is often overlooked by clients but this can have a large and devastating impact, adding: "In terms of retirement planning, it reinforces the benefit of building a robust financial plan that has been stress tested to withstand severe market shocks and to have a plan B if things do not pan out as we wish."
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
