Over two thirds (62 per cent) of employees over 50 have never increased their pension contributions thus jeopardising the likelihood that they will have a comfortable retirement period, latest figures from Friends Life have revealed.

Research covering 1606 over-50s who had not yet retired also showed that 35 per cent don’t feel that they have contributed enough but feel that they could not have done anything differently to change this. Only a quarter of those surveyed felt that they had contributed enough to their pensions through their 20s, 30s and 40s to secure comfortable living in retirement.

Friends Life managing director of corporate benefits Colin Williams said: “Difficulty in finding money to start contributing to a pension earlier in working life is not a new problem." He added that auto-enrolment should improve the situation, by "enabling more workers to start saving for the first time and easing the burden for those on lower incomes via a low starting rate for contributions”.

Williams concluded that workers should use tools and forecasters so that they can make “informed changes to their contributions to help increase their final pot size to better meet retirement needs”.

Share Story: