Two-thirds of over-50s wish they had started saving for pensions sooner

Alistair McQueen, Head of Savings and Retirement at Aviva said: “Automatic enrolment has brought pension savings to millions, but this was only introduced a decade ago and for many, especially those over the age of 50, it is perhaps too little, too late.”

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing and life in your 20s and 30s can often take over, with children to raise, debts to pay and holidays to be enjoyed.”

“However, it’s important to take stock of your financial situation early. You may not think you have enough spare cash, or that you have years until you retire, but as we found with our survey, most people over the age of fifty (64%) wished that they had paid more into their pension pot sooner.”

Meanwhile, more than a third of over-50s said they think an income of £10,000-20,000 a year will be enough to “comfortably” retire on, while a quarter of those polled said they make contributions of less than 5 per cent.

“It’s also important that people are realistic about how much they might need to live on in retirement.”

“With more people continuing to pay rent or mortgages after they finish working, it is unlikely that an income of between £10,000 – £20,000 per year will be sufficient to have a ‘comfortable’ lifestyle.”

“To avoid sleepwalking into retirement it’s important to understand how much you have in your pension, what that money might look like as retirement income and how long you might need that money to last.”

Equally, more than two-thirds (70 per cent) of over 50s say they have never sought out pension’s advice.

However, half of over-50s changed their minds, and said they would seek out financial advice, after finding out they save an extra £47,000 over a decade.