A Fourth of People 55+ Have Taken Early Retirement to Travel

By Emily Green−

Inghams ran a nationwide survey to 2,000 people via One Poll to find out the most popular items on Brits bucket- lists, which revealed travel overall was the most desired thing to do. Almost half of the UK’s workforce said they would like to swap their briefcase for a backpack to travel the world.

Realistically for many this just isn’t possible but as retirement looms a fourth of people aged 55+ have taken early retirement to fulfill their desire to travel, compared to 6% of 18 to 24 year old’s who have gone travelling for a year.

It was no surprise that Northern Lights was top of the list, with the increase interest in seeing the Northern lights in Norway or Lapland over the past few years it has become a staple of many peoples bucket- lists.

When people were asked what has been the best thing they have ticked off their bucket- list so far, losing weight was ranked higher than scaling the career ladder. Just over a third of men said they have scaled the career ladder compared to 28% of women and a further third of women said they were not interested in getting further up the career ladder (33 percent).

A fourth of people said they plan their bucket- list with their partner and give themselves 10 years to tick everything off. There’s only one thing that stands in the way of their travels and that’s family commitments, spending time with their grandchildren will always come first.