Retirees have almost £120,000 less in pension savings than they expected, with half regretting not seeking financial advice, new research shows.
Standard Life’s Retirement Voice Report found, on average, retirees hoped to build up a pension pot of around £250,000, but the average amount accumulated by retirement was £131,000.
Of the more than 6,000 people surveyed, 53 per cent wished they’d started saving earlier while 42 per cent regret not accessing advice or guidance to plan for their retirement.
Dean Butler, managing director for retail direct at Standard Life said: “Access to affordable personalised advice and guidance is crucial to closing the gap – as things stand, way too few people feel able to get advice and we can see that people then regret not doing so.
“Ultimately, contributing as much as possible, as early as possible is the key to a good retirement outcome, but it’s a huge challenge to know what to aim for and when to prioritise long-term saving over more immediate priorities.”
Half of those surveyed said they wished they had more information about how to plan and prepare for retirement and 37 per cent said they should have sought advice before accessing their pension savings.
Butler added: “It can be hard to work out how much you need to save to achieve your desired standard of living in retirement, particularly earlier on in your career.
“It’s even harder to stick to it, as everyday expenses and those one-off costs that come up in life constantly threaten to move long-term saving down the priority list.
“Clearly there’s a big gap between what people hope to save, and what they actually do – this is unsurprising, particularly when looking at it during a cost-of-living crisis, however the result can be a significantly reduced standard of living in retirement.”
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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