How many people are saving enough for their retirement

The number of people saving enough for a comfortable retirement has hit its highest ever level, according to a new survey.Almost three in five people in Britain are now 'saving adequately' for the future, says the Scottish Widows Retirement Report 2019.

But, the proportion of people not saving at all for later life has remained the same at 17 per cent.

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And more than a fifth of UK adults (22%) – equating to almost eight million people – expect they’ll never be able to afford to retire.

Graphic by Kimberley Mogg

These people are more likely to have no pension savings at all (35% of this group, versus 26% national average), with over half (51%) expecting to rely solely on the State Pension in later life.

Peter Glancy, Head of Policy at Scottish Widows, said: “One in five people say they’ll never be able to retire. With no further step-ups in auto-enrolment contributions planned, this is a timely reminder that bold action must be taken to ensure no-one has to face the spectre of poverty in their later years."

More under-30s are now saving

The number of under-30s not saving for retirement has fallen dramatically thanks to auto enrolment:almost half a million under-30s started saving for the first time in the last two years, with 40 per cent of22-29-year-olds now saving adequately.

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This is a big rise from the 30 per cent recorded in 2017 but still leaves three in five young people saving below the recommended level for a comfortable retirement, with 14 per cent of 22-29-year-olds not saving anything.

Peter added: "While the past 15 years have proved that things have been changed for the better, auto-enrolment alone won’t avert a pension crisis in the UK.

"Government and industry need to take the next step together and stop pretending the long term savings challenge can be solved in isolation."

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