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05

Majority of UK workers 'failing to prepare' for retirement

Open-access content Tuesday 19th May 2015 — updated 5.13pm, Wednesday 29th April 2020

The majority of UK workers are not prepared for retirement, with only 7% “on course to meet their retirement goals”, says pensions adviser Aegon.

2

The firm's third UK Readiness Report, which analyses attitudes towards retirement, found 62% of people did not feel confident about being able to retire when they wanted to. More than half (55%) admitted to having never checked their pension savings. 

The report, based on a sample size of 4,000 UK adults, found two in five employees did not know how much they are contributing to their pension pot, and 59% did not know their employer's contribution. 

Half of the UK workers have no idea how much they have saved into their company pension so far, and more than a third (35%) did not know whether they were eligible to be auto-enrolled. 

David Beattie, managing director at Aegon UK Direct said it was "deeply worrying" people were "still failing to prepare" for their future.

He said: "We have a new government, and with this, the opportunity to ensure the pension reform of the last parliament is implemented successfully. 

"The focus has been primarily on giving those approaching retirement more control of their savings, something that we wholeheartedly support. But it is time for a shift in emphasis from both government and industry. 

"We must now focus on the savers, and do more to help them save for the retirement they want."

According to the report, the average age people expect to retire is 63. It said the amount they expected to retire on each year was £42,000. But Aegon said this would require a saving pot of more than £1m, more than the new pension lifetime allowance (£1m in 2016).

Beattie said £42,000 was "unrealistic". "There's a huge disconnect between the amount people have saved and the retirement income they want in retirement," he said. 

However, Aegon said there was "positive sentiment" about the idea of the workplace pension and a desire to save for the future. More than three quarters (79%) planned to rely on their workplace pension as their main source of income at retirement, and only 6% said they'd leave auto-enrolment when the minimum employee contribution rises to 5% in 2018. 

This article appeared in our May 2015 issue of The Actuary.
Click here to view this issue
Filed in:
05
Topics:
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