New research from Retirement Advantage shows that despite the new pension freedoms introduced in April, over a quarter of people aged over 50 don’t know how much money they have saved in order to fund their retirements.
According to the research, the new freedoms place even greater responsibility on individuals to take control of their own finances. In March 2014, George Osborne announced an unprecedented liberalisation in the way people can spend their accumulated pension savings. Yet 18 months on from the one of the most radical overhauls of pension policy in a generation, one in four (26%) people aged over 50 don’t know the value of their accumulated pension savings.
Those who can, estimate on average that they have a pension pot worth just over £110,000. However, a fifth (22%) state that they have saved less than £50,000 into their pension. 12% reckon their pension pot value to range between £50,000 and £100,000 in total.
Andrew Tully at Retirement Advantage commented:
‘‘We’d recommend that if you don’t know the size of your pension pot, you should speak to your pension provider and get a statement. Forewarned is forearmed. Taking control and knowing what you have can help you plan to make your savings work harder for you in retirement.
The new pension freedoms place a huge amount of responsibility on people to manage their own financial affairs, who will make choices which will impact their standard of living in retirement. This is not something that people can be complacent about, so if you have any doubt, seek proper independent financial advice before making any decisions.’’
The research, which was conducted by YouGov plc in August 2015, also revealed men were more likely to know the value of their pensions, with 22% saying they didn’t know compared to 31% of women.
