ADDIDI Wealth notes pension confusion

25/09/2009

UK workers are not taking the initiative in checking their own pension plans - which could result in them retiring on unexpectedly low incomes.

Financial planners ADDIDI Wealth said today that just 12 per cent of people had taken professional advice on their retirement savings.

Moreover, some companies which offer retirement savings plans were found to be neglecting to issue annual statements to workers who had left the firm after having built up a pension pot - increasing confusion on the issue.

A surprisingly low retirement income can have damaging effects on a pensioner's personal finances - with many having difficulty in scaling back their spending.

This can in turn lead to debt problems, with the retiree turning to cards and loans.

Anna Sofat, director at ADDIDI Wealth, said: "If they put money in a bank they wouldn't forget about it, but effectively because they are not going to take benefit from it for a very long time … the pension is not very real to them.

"That's exactly what they do – put money into the bank and forget about it."

“The analysis of our client base reinforces this research" continued Kevin Still, director of EuroDebt.

"More and more over-60s appear to be getting into serious debt, struggling to cope with the cost of living.

Research from Baring Asset Management released earlier this week showed that 48 per cent of UK workers had never reviewed their pension plans.

Moreover, 37 per cent of those who had performed a review did not currently know what their pension plan was investing in.

Tags; Budgeting Advice, Retirement Money Problems,

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