British boomer couples with degrees retire with SEVEN times more money than people who didn’t go to university, study finds

It’s a decision that many teenagers spend months umming and ahing about.

But a new study can be just the boost your child needs to apply to college.

Researchers at the University of Bath have discovered a huge discrepancy between the amount of money retired people who retired and didn’t go to university.

Baby boomer couples who didn’t go to university can expect to retire with £360,000 to their name, according to the study.

However, couples who did go to college retire with nearly seven times more than that.

In their study, the team said: “The results show that between the ages of 65 and 69, these couples have amassed £2.49 million in net wealth (on average), nearly seven times the reported level by their counterparts with low education”.

It’s a decision that many teenagers spend months umming and ahing about. But a new study can be just the boost your child needs to apply to college

In their study, the team, led by Dr. Ricky Kanabar, set out to investigate the role education plays in how people choose their partners, as well as how much money they save.

The researchers focused on two key groups: ‘Baby Boomers’ (people born between 1947 and 1953) and Generation X (people born between 1973 and 1979).

Using the Wealth and Assets Survey for Britain, researchers found that by the time college-educated boomers reach age 60, they have an average net worth of £2.49 million.

This is almost seven times higher than couples without a formal degree.

“We observe a clear divergence in wealth shares, mainly due to differences in the rate of accumulation of housing and pension wealth,” the researchers said.

The researchers’ analysis also revealed that nearly a third of highly educated baby boomer couples reported receiving an inheritance by their 50s.

In contrast, less than one in 10 couples with no formal education reported the same.

For those who received an inheritance, the average amount was £79,370.

Level of education also seems to play a role in how much people leave to their children

This is 28 times more than what couples without formal qualifications typically receive.

Level of education also seems to play a role in how much people leave to their children.

College-educated Baby Boomer couples said they planned to leave an inheritance of around £332,000 to their children, more than double the amount reported by couples with no formal qualifications.

“Disparity in accumulated wealth is reflected in couples’ inheritance intentions,” the researchers explained.

“Highly educated boomer couples are substantially more likely to report planning to bequeath assets to their heirs, and the average planned inheritance size is three times greater than that reported by low-educated boomer couples education”.

The researchers hope the findings will encourage further research into wealth management in Britain.

“Future research efforts should aim to formally decompose the relative importance of factors such as heredity and family background, on the one hand, and individual characteristics such as education, which are important for particular types of wealth accumulation, such as housing and pension wealth, to explain intragenerational wealth inequality across cohorts and over time,” the researchers concluded.

“Separately, where appropriate data are available, research should seek to determine the relative contribution of changes in assortative mating and educational attainment across cohorts and how this has influenced the distribution of wealth in GB” .