More than one in five savers have admitted that they were unaware of the risks involved when deciding to take a drawdown, MetLife has found.

According to MetLife's research, which looked at savers who have taken out a conventional drawdown, 21 per cent were not aware of the risks involved, 11 per cent are regretful of their choice and one in eight noted that they regret not seeking advice before opting for a drawdown product.

The study found that the biggest fear for drawdown investors were volatility risks. Forty nine per cent discussed worries about future investment market volatility and 51 per cent are relying on growth to increase their savings.

Advisers have confirmed drawdown investors are right to worry as nearly half, 48 per cent, of specialists have reported a rise in the number of drawdown clients experiencing cuts to income and capital. On average, advisers across the country also noted that 25 per cent of clients suffered drawdown losses.

Furthermore, MetLife highlighted that almost a third of retirement savers would consider transferring their guaranteed final salary pension benefits into a cash lump sum of a DC scheme.

Looking at over-40s with DB savings, 31 per cent said they were tempted by rising transfer values offered by schemes enabling them to take transfer values now in return for sacrificing later payouts.

Those tempted by transfer values were mainly in the over-55s category, with 26 per cent noting that they would consider transferring from DB to cash or other schemes.

MetLife UK wealth management director Simon Massey said: “The record high for final salary transfer values is tempting savers to give up the security of a guaranteed income for non-guaranteed options, but there is a real risk that people will regret their decision.

“Guaranteed income is absolutely vital to ensure that people can have a comfortable standard of living in retirement and final salary schemes, along with other solutions such as guaranteed drawdown, provide that certainty.

“Anyone considering transferring out of a final salary scheme should take independent advice, which is why we are encouraging broader retirement conversations looking at the complete range of options savers have, including guarantees.

“The fact that so many drawdown customers are unhappy and did not understand the risks to their cash in drawdown is a real threat to the success of pension freedoms," Massey concluded.

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