Fewer than one in 10 people currently believe they will be financially comfortable when they stop working, according to estimations by NFU Mutual.

The insurer commissioned a survey of 2,022 people based across Great Britain for Talk Money Talk Pensions week and found that just 9 per cent of respondents were unfazed by their retirement finances.

Thirty per cent of people were 'somewhat confident' that their pension would fund their retirement and 16 per cent revealed that they did not have a pension pot at all. Over half of people aged 25 to 54 who participated in the survey were either nervous, or unsure, about how much money they would have in retirement.

In addition, more people are opting out of their workplace pension than maximising its potential, according to the survey, with just 6 per cent paying the most they can into it. Almost double the number of people (11 per cent) opt out altogether.

NFU Mutual has also reiterated the message that the self-employed and women workers are the most disadvantaged when it comes to pension saving. More than three-quarters (77 per cent) of self-employed respondents said that do not pay into a pension, while nearly one in five (19 per cent) of women do not have a pension pot compared to 13 per cent of men. In addition, only 6 per cent of women are very confident they will be comfortable in retirement, compared to 11 per cent of men.

On average, respondents thought £17,578 each year was enough to live a basic lifestyle in retirement and that £33,210 would be enough for a desirable lifestyle. NFU Mutual says that people would need to have accumulated a DC pension pot of £985,000 in order to get a guaranteed annuity of £24,443.

NFU Mutual senior pension expert Richard Needham, said: “A lot of people are nervous about their financial future, with many unsure about how much they need to have saved in order to pay for the retirement lifestyle they would want.

“For many working adults, this is often the unspoken problem looming on the horizon that can seem too big to tackle. However, it is crucial to start thinking about pensions as early as possible and to keep regularly reviewing those plans to maximise the benefits they deliver.”

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