Just 35% of women have a private pension and fewer than half of these expect it to provide an adequate income during retirement, research reveals.
A survey of more than 500 women in the UK, by pollsters TNS, shows that young women are least likely to be saving towards their retirement, with only 9% of people aged between 16 and 24 paying into a pension.
Only one third of women aged between 55 and 65 are making provision for their retirement.
Even among women in the 45 to 54 age group, who are most likely to be saving for when they stop work, only half of them have a pension.
Nearly a third of women who are not saving towards their retirement said they could not afford to, while 28% said they were not in full-time work.
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One in five women said they would rely on the state pension, while 7% said they were depending on their husband’s pensions. About 17% admitted they did not consider retirement saving to be a priority.
Linda McBain, head of banking at Investec Private Bank, which commissioned the research, said: “These findings are very disturbing. Although women are becoming wealthier, many do not have adequate plans for providing themselves with an income in retirement.”
