The majority of pension savers are not confident they can afford to retire, according to research from Hargreaves Lansdown, which found that just 36% of people surveyed are confident they can afford to retire.

The research showed that just over a quarter (26%) were unsure if they could afford to retire and 37% of people said they were not confident that they had enough set aside
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Hargreaves Lansdown head of retirement analysis, Helen Morrissey, said that despite savers contributing to their pensions every month, they do not think about what they have saved and what it could provide in retirement.

She said this had led to a “crisis of confidence”, with only about a third of savers sure they can afford to retire and a quarter of them unsure.

She said that it was “important” for savers to “get to grips” with their pension situation and emphasised that acting now would give them time to do something about it if they haven’t saved adequately.

Morrissey also pointed to the updated Pension and Lifetime Savings Association’s (PLSA) Retirement Living Standards, which were released last week.

The new standards revealed that the cost of the minimum retirement lifestyle has decreased by £1,000 per year to £13,400 for one-person households, while for two-person households, it is £21,600.

Meanwhile, the costs associated with moderate (£31,300 to £31,700 for one-person households and £43,100 to £43,900 for two-person households) and comfortable (£43,100 to £43,900 for one-person households and £59,000 to £60,600 for two-person households) lifestyles have increased.

Morrisey emphasised the importance of savers using these figures as a guide but stressed that retirement should be individual and tailored to each saver’s retirement ideals.

Previous analysis from the same Hargreaves Lansdown figures also showed a lack of knowledge about pension saving, as 40% of people surveyed said they knew that their pension is invested in the stock market.

The research also suggested that women were more likely to be unaware of how their pension funds are held than men, as only 28% of women were certain that their pensions were invested in the markets, and just over half (51%) of men were aware.

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