Poll finds majority of Scots worried they won’t have enough money to retire

A YouGov poll for charity Age Scotland has found 57% of Scots are worried they won’t have enough money to live comfortably on when they retire.

The organisation for the elderly called the figures ‘extremely worrying’ and warned a serious pension income crisis could be an issue in the future.

Campaigners are calling on the UK and Scottish governments to do more to support employees of all ages to plan for retirement, with access to information on pension savings and investments.

Brian Sloan, chief executive at Age Scotland, said: ‘Amidst the biggest squeeze on household income in over 30 years, workers of all ages, especially those nearing retirement, are bound to be concerned about how the cost-of-living crisis will impact their income and finances in later life.

‘For younger people it is unlikely that retirement is on their radar as it can feel like a long way off, and other costs such as housing, debt and childcare eat up a large amount of their take-home income, making any kind of saving, let alone for retirement, much less of a priority.

‘But we also hear from too many people who are just a few years away from a planned retirement and are shocked to discover their projected pension income falls way short of their expectations. They then only have a short period of time to try and fix this, but at that stage it’s very hard to make a big enough impact.

‘Doing the prudent thing for decades to come is much easier said than done as life gets in the way, but the earlier you start the better things can be.’

Of the over 18s surveyed, 57% felt uncertain they would have enough money for retirement, 35% felt certain and 9% didn’t know.

The most uncertain age groups were found to be 25-32 and 45-54 year olds, with 70% in both groups unsure they would have enough income to live on.

Women were found to be more uncertain (64%) than men (40%) and their concerns are valid since the gender pension pay gap has caused women to have lower pension pot sizes, according to research.

Age Scotland is encouraging governments and employers to help employees to better understand how to get the most out of pension schemes and help them to save more.

There is also a need to create more age-friendly workplaces since the number of over 50s in the workforce is set to grow as the population continues to age.

The cost of living crisis could cause people to reduce or stop pension contributions or dip into pension funds early to cope with rising costs.

The charity warned more must be done to tackle high costs or is this could have a serious impact on pension income and cause a greater reliance on State Pension.

In related news, one in five pensioners – more than 2 million people – are living in relative poverty in the UK, an increase of more than 200,000 in the past year alone, according to a new report.

Photo by Eduardo Barrios