Modelling work, health, care and income in the older population. The IFS retirement simulator (RetSim)

The pensioner population a decade from now is likely to look different to today’s population. There will not only be more pensioners but those retiring over the next few years will have experienced different economic conditions in their working lives, been subject to a different policy environment at different points in their lives, benefited from different technological and medical advances, and made different decisions about their savings than have today’s pensioners.

This paper sets out the methodology, assumptions, and modelling specifications used to produce the report The changing face of retirement by Emmerson, Heald and Hood (2014), which aims to shed some light on how the demographic and financial circumstances of this group will change.