British adults fear they will not be able to retire as comfortably as they had hoped, thanks to the cost-of-living crisis and concerns over potential pension policy tinkering by politicians.
Moreover, nearly a third of Brits say their employer has provided no help or guidance at all when it comes to understanding the workplace pension and what options they will have when they reach pensionable age.
This is according to a survey of more than 2,000 users on the investment comparison site Investing Reviews, who believe their retirement options are looking far more constricted now than they had expected.
According to Investing Reviews' survey:
- 42% of respondents would prefer to leave the UK and live abroad for their retirement.
- 78% of respondents believe the retirement age in the UK should be lowered.
- 70% thinks the UK itself is a harder place for people to retire in general now, compared with previous decades.
- One third believe they will not be able to retire comfortably in the current economic climate.
Simon Jones, chief executive of Investing Reviews, said: “There are endless debates to be had regarding the UK retirement age and the state of pensions, especially considering the recent rise in retirement age in France and the backlash that received.
"These responses offer a fascinating insight into the attitudes that the British public hold towards pensions and retirement ages, particularly the sentiment that it is now harder to retire comfortably than ever before."
He said it would be interesting to see if factors such as the backlash in France to the rise in the retirement age and the increasing difficulty of the cost-of-living crisis have any effect on these sentiments in the future.
The study by Investing Reviews suggested UK sentiment regarding retirement ages did not seem to differ much from the French.
In the survey, 68.71 per cent of respondents believe that the UK retirement age (which currently stands at 66) should be lowered.
This sentiment also comes alongside 71.16 per cent of respondents believing that it is harder to retire in the UK now than ever before.
Jones added: "However, this seems to be easier said than done. People believe their pension is simply not enough to retire comfortably, citing that they believe they will need additional investments alongside their pension.
"This may be due to the fact that over half of respondents agree they are unable to make as many pension contributions as they would like to."
As the responses indicate, many people do not find their employer helpful (see table).
Question: My employer has discussed my pension options with me in detail
Agree (net) | 29.04% |
Strongly agree | 10.43% |
Somewhat agree | 18.61% |
Neither agree nor disagree | 17.17% |
Somewhat disagree | 11.78% |
Strongly disagree | 15.62% |
Disagree (net) | 27.40% |
N/A – I do not have a job or an employer | 26.40% |
Source: Investing Reviews
There was also a clear indication that people do not have enough information to make clear decisions.
More than a third (34.93 per cent) of respondents revealed they did not know exactly how much money is in their pension, while more than a third of respondents believed they would not be able to retire comfortably in the UK.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
