Britons in their 50s are speaking out about their pension saving anxiety with a recent survey finding that Generation X is the least prepared financially for retirement out of any other generation.
Research from Annuity Read found that 65 per cent of Gen X, those born between 1965 and 1980, have lost access to final salary pensions, leaving many without the financial security previous generations enjoyed.
Some 82 per cent of Britons polled did not receive any education about pensions during their school years and nearly six in 10 find retirement planning hard to navigate.
Drew, 51, from Leeds spoke to GB News over his concerns for the future as he balances work as a freelancer and saving cash for retirement.
While he started making contributions to a pension pot in his late 20s, the freelance writer did not have the benefit of an employer topping up his retirement savings.
“I started to become conscious that I hadn’t really started planning for myself,” Drew shared. “Then as a freelancer, that was compounded because no one pays into anything for you, no one enrols you in anything.
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Gen X are concerned about their pension future and speaking out
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“It’s very much you have to go out and research the space yourself. You have to do all the organising yourself. It was probably in my early 30s that I started to think seriously that I want to have a nice life when I retire.
“I don’t want to be living off a state pension or relying on property, especially I’m from a working class background, so I never felt that I was going to inherit anything or have property from family.”
Concerns for the 51-year old focus primarily on when he will be able to retire, with it looking likely this will not be under he hits 70.
Drew added: “My main concern is financial. I’m aiming to retire, I’d love to retire early. I think I’ll be 70. It hasn’t quite panned out how I planned. I think a lot of that is down to not making a start early enough.
Many Britons are concerned about their pension savings GETTY “Even if I have a quiet month now in freelance, I make sure I’m paying something into my pot because it’s better to do that now than to do it in another 10 years when it hasn’t got time to grow. You never know what’s around the corner.”
According to the Leeds native, he was “badly informed about pensions” from a young age which has impacted his ability to save sufficiently.
Despite having previous office job experience, Drew never benefited from auto enrolment which many employees today will reap the rewards from in the future.
Drew is urging other Gen Xers to “get their head out the sand” and confront their financial concerns to avoid a pension saving shortfall.
He added: “I just think it’s talk about it with people, people who know. Seek out advice as early as you can, because if you’ve ignored it, the problem is only going to get worse the later you leave it. You need to take action now.”
This advice is echoed by Sarah Lloyds, the commercial director of Annuity Ready, who is rallying for over 50s and 60s to take action.
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The Longevity Centre has recommended raising the state pension age to 71 PAShe explained: “I think probably the biggest mistake is avoiding it. So burying your head in the sand and hoping that it’ll be okay because it might be okay.
“I guess you don’t want to get to retirement and it’s not okay, and you have regrets and wishing that you’ve done something differently five, 10, 15 year.
“So I guess the biggest mistake is in action and really taking that action, taking that first step, taking control at whatever point it is in your working life so that you have got a plan and then at the mercy of what will happen to you, whether that’s a state pension or what you have got in your pension pass when you get to retirement.”