Around 2 million Welsh adults are rolling the dice when it comes to their retirement, admitting that they either have not, or did not, set savings targets for their retirement.
Sanlam UK’s new ‘What’s Your Number?’ report, highlights the lack of basic knowledge that is impacting the UK’s ability to reach their financial goals.
The research found that 83% of adults have not set any savings targets for their retirement, with more than two fifths (44%) not believing it is important to do so.
While the signs suggest people are putting the thought of their retirement to the back of their minds, in fact there is an indication they are concerned. The results showed that nearly two thirds of Welsh adults (63%) doubt they’ll be able to save enough money to retire when they want to. Despite high levels of awareness that their financial circumstances are problematic, too few are addressing the problem head on. This lack of engagement is highlighted by the fact that people in Wales are much more likely to know their lottery numbers off by heart than their target pension pot (12% vs 0%).
It’s a dream for many to finally stop working, and most of us have an idea of what we would like our retirement years to look like. The top aims for people in Wales were not to have to worry about money (44%), to maintain their current standard of living (29%), and to be debt free (27%). The irony is that only a small percentage are putting plans in place to make these aspirations a reality.
Jonathan Polin, Sanlam UK CEO said:
“’What’s your number?’ is a simple question, but the answer is often less straight forward. The gap between what people think they need and what they actually require in later life is huge, and sometimes life-changing. Despite years of industry effort to turn the tide, engagement with longer term savings, as highlighted in our report, is shockingly low. This suggests that we are about to see a tidal wave of people coming into retirement who will be ill-prepared and severely disappointed when faced with their retirement reality. By taking some very simple steps, setting clear financial goals, and identifying a clear path to get there, this nightmare can be avoided.”
