Millions of retirees are worried they don’t have enough money to last through their retirement, a major new report has found. A shocking 3.8 million pensioners were worried they did not have the cash cushion to last them across the period of their retirement, according to the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Financial Lives survey.
A third of adults with a defined contribution pension had less than £10,000 saved, according to the report, while another 12% were unaware of how much they had saved. Just a third of defined contribution pension holders had considered how they would manage in retirement, while almost 40% did not know how much they or their employer are contributing. One third of adults aged 50 or over had no private pension provision because they could not afford to pay into one, up from 26% in 2017.
The survey also found one in 10 UK adults had no money saved at all, leaving them exposed to economic shocks and rising bills.
A further 21% had less than £1,000 set aside, while 2.8 million Brits had persistent credit card debt.
Anxiety and stress levels were also found to be relatively high and were especially keenly felt among those carrying a debt burden.
Almost 18,000 people were questioned about their financial status as part of the survey, which is seen as a benchmark for the state of the nation’s finances.
Around a quarter of the UK population, 13 million people, have low financial resilience according to the findings, meaning they have hard-to-manage debts, low savings, and have missed a series of bill payments.
However, this was unchanged when compared with the previous iteration of the survey, published in 2022, despite inflation pressure and rising essential bills.
Almost 12 million people reported feeling overwhelmed or stressed dealing with financial matters, including 40% of adults with credit or loans saying they suffered from anxiety or stress.
Sarah Pritchard, executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA, said the data showed finances were “stretched” for many, with some “unable to save for a rainy day”.
She added: “We know that some do not have the confidence to invest. But there are improvements – more people with current accounts and less digital exclusion. Our strategy will build on this to help people better navigate their financial lives.”
Oliver Morley, chief executive at the Money and Pensions Service, which provides the MoneyHelper service, said: “People who experience individual financial wellbeing are less stressed about money which in turn has positive effects on their health, relationships, and work. Through MoneyHelper – our free and impartial service – we can help make your money and pension choices clearer by cutting through the complexity, explaining what you need to do and how you can do it.
