One in five retirement savers ‘fear they’ve wasted their money’

Nearly one in five retirement savers are unhappy with their pension savings or fear they have wasted money by saving for retirement, new research by MetLife shows.

Its research among retirement savers aged 45+ found 12% wish they hadn’t bothered saving for retirement while 6% are unhappy with their retirement savings despite the recent stock market revival which has seen the FTSE-100 climb more than 12% to around 6,691 in the past year.

The effects of the past five years of economic and financial turmoil has left 73% of retirement savers less confident in the ability of stock market investing to deliver their retirement income ambitions.

However the nationwide study shows nearly half would be interested in paying for guarantees on their pension funds with a view to protecting their capital in return for giving up some gains – around 11% of savers would definitely be interested while 38% would consider taking out a guarantee.

The research is not all gloom – more than a fifth of savers (22%) are confident their pension savings will deliver a good income in retirement while 47% are pleased they have saved for retirement although they are concerned about their final retirement income.

MetLife, which offers capital and income guarantees, believes the research underlines the need for the retirement savings industry to work harder on educating savers and providing retirement income solutions adapted to current market conditions.

Dominic Grinstead, Managing Director, MetLife UK said: “Long-term equity investment remains the most effective way to provide an income in retirement but it is also clear that the events of the past five years have hit confidence and undermined faith in pension saving.

“The Government has worked hard to make retirement saving pay with plans for a universal state pension, auto-enrolment into company pensions and changes to the rules on taking retirement income which allow greater flexibility.

“However the retirement income industry has to work harder to rebuild confidence and our research shows that guarantees which are affordable have an important role to play in ensuring that people do not end up feeling they have wasted their money.”

The research shows those aged 65+ are less likely to feel they have wasted their money on pension saving – just 10% of that age group say they wish they had not bothered.

MetLife has seen rapid growth underpinned by its Managed Wealth Portfolios which have grown to £1.011 billion under management in just 12 months after launching the new funds in partnership with world-leading asset manager BlackRock.

The successful launch has helped drive MetLife’s total funds under management in the UK to £3.5billion since launch in January 2007.