45% of working age people not saving toward a pension at all

[FernFaery]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/may/19/britons-not-saving-enough-retire-pensions-commission

Another looming crisis!

But that's exactly the point - you wouldn't be cutting back on it if you dont have it in the first place.

Financial education isn't about having no debts or scrimping and saving where you can, it's about managing money so it works for you.

Nope. From the ONS:

Following an increase in the employment rate since early 2012, there was a decrease from the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. There was an increase from the end of 2020, followed by a decrease between mid-2023 and early 2024. The rate then increased until mid-2024 and has been relatively stable since.
The employment rate increased in the latest quarter (January to March 2026), but remained largely unchanged over the year since January to March 2025.

I think it’s because they feel poor if they have to downsize to a medium latte. They literally have zero idea. They think that they are safe from the suggestions they make.

I'm lucky, I’m mortgage free with large amounts of savings. But I’m using the word lucky here and know that but for a few twists of fate I could be sleeping on the streets. It makes me more empathetic to others.

We buried my husbands brother last year when he died in his council flat from a massive drug overdose. He was just unlucky enough to fall in with a bad crowd when he was a teenager, his life destroyed, left with schizophrenia, just a few weeks of poor decisions in his teens and a life destroyed, he was lucky enough that his family helped. My husband was lucky he had a good group of friends. Both brothers lovely people, one happened to inherit some addictive genes and meet the wrong people.

I’ve always been highly intelligent but with adhd and autism. I’m lucky they interact in such a way I’ve been able to hold down a career although at massive cost to my mental health. I’m lucky to have an open mind to research lots of ways to cope with it. I’m lucky to have have had private healthcare and the money to explore lots of alternative therapies. All allowing me to function. I’ve probably had to work 100times harder than most to stand still. The fact I’ve been able to do this is a privilege and down to sheer dumb luck of things aligning. If any of those things supporting that luck had slipped, I could have been on the streets.

Im fed up of people just not getting it. Thinking that their perfect little lives are so because of hard work. A cleaner works hard, a policeman works hard, a worker in a care home works hard. Whether you are comfortable enough to be able to pay into a pension is just luck. Luck your skill set aligns with the weird hierarchy we have for jobs, luck that your brain formed in a certain way, luck you met the nice kids at school, luck you didn’t inherit some dodgy genes. Luck no one drove into the side of your car.

So when idiots tell you “you can’t afford to be self employed” when that is the only way you can operate in a work environment or to go into an HMO with three kids, or to sell Your kids 3rd hand clothes on vinted. It’s because their place of privilege means they have no idea.

Let them eat fucking cake ( from Gail’s Bakery)

Ahh, ok. I missed the earlier “yummy mummy” comment, I likely just scrolled on by them!

You are correct, there will be 3 Yorkshiremen waiting in the wings to say how lucky we were 😆. (Side note, we had a decent childhood, I have no idea how my parents did it!). There will also likely be a whole bunch of people who want to claim I’m too privileged to understand there are poor people out there and how dare I have an opinion. Maybe peak MN is failure to understand nuance.

I currently have 3k at mid 30s.

I cant afford to save for a pension.

I thought we could do it after nursery. Then we had a big surprise tax bill. Still not sure how that happened. I am on a payment plan for £350 a month. My partner on £300. It finishes the month before our mortgage doubles (an increase of £700).

I just dont know. Hopefully it gets better at some point. If not then I will just have to keep working.

If government keeps on making moves on people's pensions, and changing the rules re taxation every time they need more money, then each of those changes act as a deterrent to save for a pension. People need to have confidence that the money they put aside for their retirement will be there when they need it.

The pensions bill is linked to who’s getting it and how much it is. The benefits bill is the one that will grow if to few have private pensions. It also says people aren’t saving enough, not that they aren’t saving. It’s brought about by low wages and part time work or not working at all. Neets presumably are in the stats and we have a huge number of those over 18 years old. I think pension enrolment is compulsory now.

So you as a relatively well off person have life experiences which mean you can imagine having no money, but nobody else who is also relatively well off can be the same?

By the look of it, the alternative will be poverty in old age as well. So many people are saying why it's affordable, so it will be state pension or working to the grave.

have never increased my woefully small monthly payments. I’m worried about it, but with school fees for the next 6.5 years, I have absolutely no money left over each month to increase my contributions

🤣😵‍💫😲

Nuance is a dirty word!

Nuance is a dirty word!

Many of the comments on here absolutely suggest that there are many people on here who absolutely cannot imagine and empathise with other’s circumstances. I’m sure there are plenty of well off people who can imagine and empathise with the situation of others they just don’t seem to be on this thread.

@FernFaery Someone may have already mentioned this, but I can't be bothered going through the thread so I will say it anyway.

It needs to be clarified that the 45% figure is not 45% of all employed people. It's 45% of all people of working age, including people who are not employed. This is clear from the following line:

"It warned as many as 45% of working-age adults were not saving into a pension at all, despite nearly half of them being in work."

To me, it seems like a rubbish statistic, because if just under 50% of working age people have a job to begin with, then of course I would expect nearly half of people are not saving into a pension, as having a job and a pension tend to go hand in hand.

Some people are not saving into a pension because they are very fortunate and very lucky to be living as a stay at home parent. Articles and statistics about work, employment, and pensions always overlook the fact that most people live as couples or in family units, rather than living and working by themselves. We don't need to be concerned about people not saving into a pension if they are a stay at home parent; the concern should be for people who don't have anyone else to lean on financially.

Exactly. Instead of berating people and pearl clutching, let's be looking at this miserable circumstance millions of people are in.

Extremely tone deaf. Perhaps if people earned enough to afford their skyrocketing rent and bills they might be “bothered” to put something away from their mythical disposable income. Yes, we ALL suffer when inequality gets this severe. You are blaming the wrong people for how and why we got here.

Yes, I suppose the nuance here is “I’ve made it why can’t others?” Theres lots of nuance in people’s responses

"To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less"

Oscar Wilde, 1891

Reminds me when someone told me to look into autophagy to save money on food.

My parents are putting a figure around £250 a month into a pension plan which was topped up by transferring my former employer's pension which was £33-35k

My parents said to transfer the employer's fund as I don't want to be reminded of the last 4 months there when I retire in 2049.

I love it when someone with a £100k annual income living in a £375k house tells people on NMW or less that they're not saving hard enough for their future.

Ha, I had someone on here claiming to be on £150K tell me that I had more money left at the end of the month that they did. I am on UC.

Which is why the pension shouldn’t be means tested.

Just as well you do, those wide screen TVs/nail bar appointments/top of the range iPhones won't pay for themselves!

I've been told on here that I should start my own business or try matched betting or just 'try harder' to find a job. I'm in my late 50s and haven't been able to work for 25 years because I'm disabled. But I'm perfectly capable of being the next Alan Sugar apparently. Or wazzing DH's salary up the wall online gambling.

Absolutely bananas.

what a ridiculous response