Failing to plan for retirement `will cause financial problems`

8 October 2008

People could be leaving themselves vulnerable to personal finance problems - potentially including debt - by failing to plan for retirement, an expert has said.

Malcolm Cuthbert, managing director of financial planning at Killik & Co, said that it is crucial for consumers to plan for their post-work years.

According to research conducted by the firm, 60 per cent of people with a pension fund do not know how much they have in it, while 78 per cent lack any kind of a pension strategy.

Meanwhile, half of those questioned never check the performance of their pension investments.

Mr Cuthbert said: "It`s more important than ever before that people take responsibility for themselves and I think that imagining that this problem is going to go away or any of the other excuses people come up with is just crazy."

He also said that the UK is in the "death throes" of the final salary pension scheme and value of the state pension has been eroded.

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