Please don’t talk about those ‘golden years’

Skipton said the starkest finding was the dramatic physical and emotional rejection we have to traditional views of retirement.

This included increased perspiration and goosebumps when people were shown key words associated with retirement. The phrases “end of a chapter” and the “start of your golden years” literally had us in a cold sweat.

The research identified five distinctive personality types: “comfort seekers” who prioritise family, home and garden; “adventurers” who opt for thrill seeking pursuits such as ski diving and water sports; “activity seekers” who are keen on exercise and fitness; “knowledge seekers” who are keen to pursue new hobbies and learn new skills and “workers” who see their work as their passion, not a necessary evil.

Further investigation revealed that everyone is made up of elements of each of these five areas so as with fingers, no two retirees are the same.

Skipton is offering a free service for people who want to check out their retirement profile.

The group’s chief executive David Cutter said: “Introducing the new retirement service in our branches is really helping our customers to understand their aspirations for the future and get them thinking about how they plan to achieve them.

“But it has revealed some worrying trends.

“We cannot have a country of people bursting with aspiration, whose hopes are then struck down by apathy or aversion to financial planning.”