FTAdviser.com

Advertising

The findings also demonstrated that nearly a third of those surveyed either did not know how much the basic state pension pays or overestimated the weekly amount by £25.

Martyn Bogira, director of defined contribution solutions for Prudential, said: "There is still a clear need for people to understand the consequences of not making adequate provision for their retirement.

"If the basic state pension is a person's only source of income, then they could be in an extremely precarious position financially. Just one significant financial emergency, like the central heating system breaking down, could cause serious financial hardship for people expecting to retire on the state pension alone."

Alan Dick, an IFA for Glasgow-based Forty Two Wealth Management, said: "There is no doubt that the state pension is woefully inadequate and people need to take more responsibility for planning for their retirement.

"People tend to base their planning on the age that their parents died, but if you look at actuarial statistics, people are expected to live well into their 80s and this could well extend into their 90s in the not too distant future. You need to be putting away a lot of money to fund yourself until then."