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The research found, however, that of those adults yet to retire 24 per cent (9.03 million adults) have made no pension provision at all. The findings highlight the fact that millions of Brits are failing to seriously plan for their retirement.

People’s target age for retirement is particularly low among the younger age groups with those aged 18 – 34 expecting to be able to retire at 61. This is in spite of Government recommendations that the age of retirement for UK adults was set to increase to 66 by 2024, 67 by 2034 and 68 by 2044.

Relying on property

According to the research 33 per cent (12.25 million) people expect to be able to retire between 60 and 65 years of age. Some 4.83 million people expect to be able to retire before they reach 55 and a further 7.43 million expect to retire between 55 and 60.

Sixteen per cent of Brits (5.94 million) expect to have to work much longer than this as they do not plan to retire until 65 or later. The number of people planning on working until they are at least 75 is just 371,385.

Eight per cent of those planning to retire before they reach 50 years of age claim that they are relying on their property for their income in retirement. 

This is double the number of people who expect to be able to retire before 50 with a Defined Contribution (DC) scheme or money purchase pension (4 per cent), and four times as many people who foresee retirement before their 50th birthday on a Defined Benefit (DB) final salary related scheme (2 per cent). 

Only 30 per cent of people with a DC scheme expect to be able to retire before they are 60. This rises to 42 per cent of people with a DB scheme, and 48 per cent of people who rely on their property as a pension.

Worrying trend 

Barings’ head of European sales, Rob Lay, is urging people to plan more carefully for their retirement. He says that people have to start taking a more proactive approach to planning for their retirement. 

Lay says that relying on a DB scheme is no longer an option for many UK adults and relying on your property as a pension is a very risky strategy to take.

“These figures reveal a worrying trend of UK adults assuming that they will be in a position to retire without having made the necessary arrangements for funding that retirement,” he says.

Baring found that people are increasingly expected to live longer and that the way adults plan for retirement is changing. Lay warns that we can’t rely on DC schemes or a state pension any longer.

“It is absolutely vital for people to start considering how best to build their pension fund from the day they start working.  Unless they make the correct provisions now, that target age for retirement will slip further and further away,” he concludes.

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Related links

• Baring Asset Management