This morning, wedged into a stuffy Northern Line tube carriage like a tin of sardines, I looked around at my fellow commuters.

Unsurprisingly, almost all were staring at their phones.

Not that I’m trying to snoop, but my above-average height (6ft - just) means I could unintentionally see that one passenger was playing Candy Crush, on a level that suggests it occupies a bit too much of their time. Another was checking the temperature on their weather app (spoiler: it was very hot), and a third was staring intensely at the Subway menu.

I couldn’t see every screen in the carriage, but I’d wager that not one person was looking at the most important financial information they have access to: their pension.

Now, I’m not suggesting you should check your pension - or any sensitive financial material - on public transport. But on Financial Awareness Day, it’s a sobering reminder that pensions, often the largest long-term asset most people will ever own, remain out of sight and out of mind for far too many.

The statistics paint a grim picture.

Three out of four UK adults have no idea how much is currently in their pension pot, according to Standard Life’s Retirement Voice study.

Even among those aged 55-64, the group closest to retirement, nearly eight in ten are still in the dark.

Meanwhile, nearly a fifth of savers have never checked their pension at all, and fewer than one in five check it at least once a year.

By contrast, over two-thirds of people regularly check their bank and credit card statements.

And then there are our phones. Research shows many of us check them up to 50 times a day, endlessly scrolling through notifications, social media, and games - although I suspect I’m personally skewing that average upwards by a significant amount!

This tells us something important about human behaviour: our brains prioritise immediacy, instant rewards, and digital pings, while long-term goals like retirement planning struggle to compete for attention.

Low engagement with pensions not only risks suboptimal outcomes for members but can also create inefficiencies for schemes and providers, from unclaimed benefits to higher administrative costs.

Alarmingly, more than one in five people admit to losing a pension, with 18 per cent ‘not sure’ if they had or not.

The value of lost pension pots in the UK has also risen by 60 per cent, or £12bn, since 2018, with around £31.1bn lying in unclaimed, inactive, or lost pension pots, according to research from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).

The report argued that these lost pensions, which are now worth an average of £9,470 – rising to £13,620 amongst the aged 55-75 cohort – could make a real difference to people’s retirement if they were reunited with their owners.  

And today offers another timely reminder of why awareness matters. It’s not just Financial Awareness Day - it’s also A-level results day.

Across the country, thousands of young people are opening envelopes that could shape their future. Pensions work in much the same way: you need to know where you stand today to plan the right steps for tomorrow.

For those just starting their working lives, it likely won't be long until they start seeing pension contributions coming up on their payslip.

Engaging with them from the outset can make a huge difference decades down the line.

Despite the scale of the awareness problem, there are promising initiatives underway.

One of the most significant is the launch of pensions dashboards, which will bring together pensions into one secure, user-friendly view.

The aim is simple: make it easy to see everything in one place, and more people will engage.

Providers and regulators are also turning to behavioural science to prompt action.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has encouraged firms to experiment with personalised communications, such as sending pension updates on birthdays, highlighting milestones when a pot reaches a certain value, or reframing projections into clear monthly income figures.

In addition, some employers are introducing 'pension check-in days' or weaving pension discussions into onboarding and annual reviews, making engagement a workplace norm.

In the meantime, Financial Awareness Day serves as a reminder that technology and behavioural nudges will only succeed if matched by sustained industry commitment.

Schemes, providers, and advisers all have a role to play in making pensions part of everyday financial consciousness, not just an afterthought.

After all, the more frequently members engage, the better placed they are to make timely contribution changes, review investments, and locate any missing pots.

That, in turn, supports stronger retirement outcomes, a goal that should unite the entire pensions industry.

So, the message to members must be clear: One day, a pension pot might matter more than all the games, weather checks, and sandwich menus combined!

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