A survey commissioned by the BBC suggests that close to half of all adults aged between 20 and 60 living in the United Kingdom are making no contributions towards a pension.
The survey of 1,358 people by GfK NOP – a leading market research and consumer insight agency, suggests the situation was worst among under 30s, with around 1 in 3 – 36% putting anything aside towards pension schemes or savings accounts.
Many young people cannot afford to make contributions, with a number trading it with paying off debts such as credit cards or loans.
The survey showed that 45 percent of those aged between 41 and 60 are not actively paying towards a pension fund.
There are several reasons for this, which include the large rate of unemployment in the current climate, as well as many women that never joined a scheme due to leaving full time employment at pregnancy.
Many of those that fell into the younger age bracket said that the reason they had never appled for a one was either because they were not aware of the procedures required to set one up, or that they were reluctant to start worrying about retirement now with it being a number of years away.
Although 36 percent of those aged under 30 that took part in the survey had a pension, almost 50 percent said that they felt confident they would be able to have a comfortable retirement.
Chief executive Ed Gardner of UK retirement and savings at pension and insurance firm Metlife, said young people should not presume that this would be the case. The days of generous final salary pension schemes are becoming less frequently available, which is likely to cause this new generation of pension planners to rely on defined contribution pension schemes, which tend to provide lower returns.
Mr Gardner said: “Unfortunately the tide has turned and younger people face even more challenges in saving for their retirement”.
People may have to begin asking themselves what they will need in order to retire by 65, based on another 25 odd years to cater for.
“What you will find is that many people are currently saving nowhere near enough,” Mr Gardner said.