Almost half of pension savers on the way to retirement are uncertain that they have enough money to fund a comfortable lifestyle when they give up work.
Only 56% of under 55s consider their pension savings are on track and only one in 10 are very confident they will have enough money, compared to 85% of over 55s who believe they are on track, research by financial firm NFU Mutual found.
But the comparison also found 46% of over 55s are happy that they have saved enough.
Besides the concerns over a funding gap in retirement, other big differences between the age groups were:
Only one in four under 55s admitted they know how much cash is sitting in their pension, compared to 65% of over 55s.
Make sensible decisions
Although 57% of under 55s have no concerns about making decisions about their pensions while just 14% are very confident about doing so, the number rises to 92% happy to make pension decisions among over 55s, with 59% very confident they can manage their pensions.
Richard Needham, senior pensions expert at NFU Mutual, said: “The number of pensioners in the UK is set to rocket over the next two decades – but many of the next generation of retirees are unsure about their financial future.
“Making sensible decisions early in your career – like opting to pay the maximum you can into the pension scheme your employer offers – can have a huge financial impact later in life.
“Having started to build a pension pot it’s important that people then keep themselves pension aware.
Number of pensioners set to grow
“Staying up to date, checking their pension is on track and making adjustments and changes can make a financial difference to people once they start needing that pot to provide an income.”
The report was released as the Office for National Statistics, the government’s official data unit, published a report showing that the number of UK pensioners is set to rise nearly 30% in the next 25 years from 12.3 million to 15.9 million.
The number of pensioners per 1,000 working people is expected to increase from 295 in 2018 to 360 by 2043.
The inference is a new generation of pensioners may not have enough money to fund their retirement, while the number of workers supporting their state pensions is falling.