Lifestyle Report: The Future

At what age do licensees intend to call time on their working lives?

When licensees look towards the end of their careers, they do so with a sense of ambition and optimism. The great majority of licensees intend to stay in the profession until they retire.

Taken together with our job satisfaction findings, we can deduce a general sense of well-being.

According to the Coors-sponsored lifestyle survey, 71 per cent are enjoying their careers enough to see it through, while only 29 per cent say they plan to get out. It is probable that only a small proportion of that minority will actually quit.

Tenants are the most enthusiastic about staying in the trade until retirement, with only 26 per cent planning to get out before that time.

But this is a question in which age plays a huge part.

When you are 18, you have not only the belief but also the opportunity to quit before you're 50. When you are approaching 60, it doesn't matter what you believe, the opportunity has gone.

Although a very encouraging 55 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds plan to last the course and retire as licensees, the figure increases through the age ranges - 60 per cent among 35 to 44-year-olds, 76 per cent among 45 to 60-year-olds and 95 per cent among the over-60s.

The average age at which licensees plan retirement is just short of their 58th birthday.

Almost a quarter (24 per cent) plan to stick it out until they are 55 to 60, with a further 22 per cent planning their exit before the age of 65.

Thirty-six per cent plan to retire before 55, with half that number believing they will be able to quit before 50.

The fact that 18 per cent of all licensees plan to retire before the relatively tender age of 50 may surprise some, but it's fairly common in all walks of life for people to plan an early retirement, especially independent business people.

The extent to which licensees have acted on their ambitions, for example by factoring the age of 50 into their pension plans or by amassing sufficient savings, is not known.

Age again plays a prominent role when it comes to planning the right time to retire.

For example, only 32 per cent of those aged 35 to 44 plan to retire before they are 50. A good proportion of these may be at the younger end of that age range or may have already gone some way towards achieving what they need to in order to realise their dream.

Lessees have in mind an earlier retirement age than freetraders or tenants. Their optimum age is 56.7 compared to over 58 for tenants and freetraders.

Then again, freetraders tend to be slightly older (their average age is 48), and perhaps more realistic as a result.

When taken together with our other findings, it is possible that licensees plan to stay the course because they enjoy their work rather than because they simply see no alternative.