People spend more time on choosing a new car or choosing the colours and tiles for a new bathroom than they do on deciding how to spend and invest their pensions.
A third of over 55s take around a week to make far-reaching decisions about what to do with their pension income in retirement.
By comparison, 40% of the same age group confess they think about buying a new car for more than a week.
Financial firm Legal & General asked more than 2,000 over 55s about their pensions.
Few knew what return to expect from investing their pension savings on retirement, while one in four were unable to say what rate of return would represent good value for money on their cash pots.
Financial goals
Most pitched their ideal return between 3% and 7%.
Just over half (52%) had a goal of financial security in their later years, but almost 60% of over 55s not drawing on a pension had failed to start researching their retirement options.
“The flipside of the flexibility offered by pension reform, is that we are all now responsible for making sure our pension pots will last through our retirement. But, as a nation, we are not spending enough time thinking about this, and about how we want to use our pension,” said the firm’s managing director of retail retirement income Emma Byron.
“This is true both before, and in, retirement. Planning retirement is a challenge and it’s maybe not as much fun as buying a car or remodelling our bathroom, but it is important. We need to spend time on this vital task, or we run the risk of not having enough money to last or our investments not giving us the return we want.”
Running out of money
The Legal & General study also revealed one in five over 55s considers they are likely to run out of money once they have retired.
“Our research shows that for retirees who want clarity and certainty around the affordability of their planned retirement, annuities clearly have the potential to meet their needs,” said Byron.
“There is still work to do for all of us in our sector, to ensure that planning retirement and choosing how we access our pension are clearer and hassle-free. We think part of that work must include speaking clearly to our customers, without any unnecessary jargon, to really show the benefits that choices like an income for life can bring for retirement.”