Four out of five Brits feel disheartened and worried with the amount they’re able to put into their pension pots each month, Pension Geeks research shows.
The research has exposed some fascinating findings on the state pension and general pension awareness in the UK, including:
- There is a clear lack of pension knowledge among UK adults, with only one in 10 sure they have a comprehensive understanding, according to the survey.
- A quarter of all Brits regret not beginning to save earlier in life for retirement, and a third of the over 55s are uncertain if they’ll be able to retire on their current savings.
- A quarter believe the available information on pensions is too complex to understand and almost nine in 10 thinks that there simply isn’t enough clear information available to them.
Auto-enrollment in the workplace is successful, with only one in five people opting out. However, people aren’t knowledgeable enough about how pensions work and how much they should actually be putting in each month to retire comfortably. The onus for more transparency and available knowledge should surely rest on the financial industry.
To confirm that there’s a worrying lack of understanding of pensions, the latest Scottish Widows Retirement Report reveals the number of people saving sufficiently for retirement has halted at 56 per cent for the third consecutive year. Almost a fifth of UK adults don’t save at all, which equates to nine million people!
So What Is Being Done To Help The UK’s Understanding Of Pensions?
We can clearly see that levels of saving have stagnated over the past few years, so it is essential that the industry does more to educate the UK population on the importance of saving as much as they can towards their retirement. Perhaps if UK people had a better understanding, they’d start saving more and earlier in life.
To help better educate people on pensions, Pension Geeks and Scottish Widows will begin a five-day bus tour of Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff and London starting on 11 September, up to Pension Awareness Day on 15 September.
In a society where we’re generally not saving enough for our retirement, the aim of the Awareness Day is to promote the importance of saving for the future.
For more information on pensions, go to:
Pensionwise: https://www.pensionwise.gov.uk/en
Pensions Advisory Service: https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk
About the Author
My name is Natalie Blackburn and I’m a busy 36 year-old mum of two under five. I am from, and still live, in the vibrant city of Manchester. Since entering into my thirties and becoming a parent, I developed an interest in good financial planning, and coupled with my passion for writing, I have lovingly created the blog that you read on Sophisticated Savers.
Other interests of mine include reading (autobiographies are a particular favourite) and running (but only if I am pushed to, so I wouldn’t really call it an interest, but just wanted to sound as though I was quite fit!) and yoga (that is a real interest!). Wine and chocolate are also my real interests, and the occasional travel when I have the time.
