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!

Pensions are a great option if you've paid off other debts first but until then you'll likely be paying more in interest (also compound) to service the debt than you'll be gaining in interest on the pension.

The advantage of paying the debt down instead of paying into pension is that you have access to larger reserves of cash as you age which can be invested wisely as and when the opportunity arises. Like fixing a leaky window earlier to save on heating and prevent knock on maintenance costs.

Of course a lot of discipline is required to make sensible decisions when the money is readily available and it's a lot easier to save money that you can't actually access! But as others have noted there is more to preparing for retirement than a pension pot.

Many people also invest heavily their time and energy in local communities, friends and family which pay social dividends in old age that no amount of money can buy.

because its deducted at source and your employer pays in and you get tax relief so even I, on 20hrs @NMW will pay my pension , and Ive paid in a pensions fund since I was 21 when I went onto adult wages ( before NMW )

Yes Im like most, struggling with costs, but do I want to be on the breadline for the last part of my life when I finally have the time to enjoy it ?

I think the more money you have the more tax you pay the less empathy you have.

You cannot expect every person paying eye watering levels of tax and suffering ever worse public services due to a ballooning welfare bill to have empathy for those not paying in.

Before we start introducing draconian measures to means test state pension and make workplace pensions compulsory, should we not be addressing the rich employers who prefer to pay themselves and their shareholders bonuses and dividends rather than pay a living wage to their employees that doesn’t require topping up via UC at the tax payers’ expense ? Not to mention greedy landlords who raise their rents every year in line with UC rent payment increases.

Quite frankly if they have done fuck all about their future not my problem beyond a very basic minimum. There are too many people opting out of any personal responsibility. 20, 30, 40 years ago what would they have done. We cannot sustain as a country this level of non-engagement with personal responsibility.

Alright to be on the breadline until you retire then?

The people paying eye watering tax are not going to find themselves in poverty though if their contributions have to go up.

My parents both died before retirement, which frankly was the best financial planning they ever did. (We had about enough ti cover the funerals, that was it.)

But neither was on a huge income before death, so they wouldn't have been well off in retirement.

I have mostly worked in IT, and I think I'll be okay, though I still rent in my 50s. I won't be retiring early - but that's what a friend thought who can't work after a traffic accident in his 50s and the resulting injury, or another friend whose degenerative blindness worsened to the point he couldn't work in his career any more. They didn't have the choice.

I have friends who have been contractors. Some make sure they put a good chunk of their income aside for pension and the times between contracts, and they'll be fine.

But I've one friend, he's been a contractor most of his career, now early 60s. He's had 6 figure earnings most years since his 30s. He has no pension. He's currently renting a 6 bedroom place for himself and his cat. No house of his own since divorce. But he stands to inherit a lot from his mother, and his brothers are both well-off.

I've never earned anything like he does, though I do okay - but I also knew I wouldn't have anyone else to help, so I don't think I would ever have made the financial decisions he has, because I knew i would have to provide for me. And it is people like him who haven't saved that the government should be pissed off with, because he shouldn't have had earnings like that over his lifetime and have nothing to show for it. I struggle to be sympathetic, because he has never had to decide whether to have beans on toast or the heating on, or to pay the electricity but not the council tax.

I think that is a fair point, but not everyone on NMW is employed by some international company that rakes in £millions.
I am not sure of the exact figure, but there is a huge percentage of NMW employees that are employed by SME.
As an example, my DM has a cleaning company, and most of her staff are on £1+ over NMW... which is good for a cleaning job. But she does not take home much more than that herself. Her staff are on UC, not because of the wage, but because of the hours.

UC takes pension contributions into account, so you would get more in UC if you pay into a pension. And I'm assuming being on the breadline would entitle you to at least some UC.

The cost of living paired with the cost of childcare while being a single parent who earns just enough to not recieve any financial help but barely can cover the basics isnt about money management when there is no money left after paying the bare minimum essentials. There is no money to spare to make work for me. Honestly this shit gets on my nerves.

Pension goal posts keep changing too. When I started working I expected to retire at 60. It is now 67 for my age group. It doesn’t make you want to invest more in pensions when you might not see much of that money back while you can still have a good quality of life. I earn very little - do I pay my bills and enjoy some treats and holidays or do I put every spare penny into a future I may not even see let alone enjoy?

Same!! No way can I save 10% and I’m on a good salary!!

Well, I struggle to empathise with high earners who have no empathy for the millions living in foodbank levels of poverty. The country is fucked and you are angry at the victims of a system that’s rigged against them instead of looking at the grift that’s all around us.

I find this all very sad. I worry about my pension a lot and have really prioritised putting money in over the past six years but now realising how lucky I am to be able to do so. I would love to live in a bigger place as I’ve now had a child and our place is tiny but the worry about the future and wanting pension to compound means I’m prioritising that for now. It’s so unfair how wages have stagnated. I agree many are just not able to save into pensions. On paper I have an amazing salary but I live in London and have a little one at nursery, it just gets eaten up. My bills are £2600 before food or travel, and that’s in a small 1.5 bedroom house. And I’ve still got a massive mortgage to pay at 41 because I only got on the housing ladder at 36. It all just feels very heavy and unfair given how hard I’ve worked all my adult life.

If pensions become means-tested, I hope private pots don’t cancel out entitlement to state pension. But that would surely mean the end of the pension industry, who wants to be the mug paying in when you get the same out regardless.

No, but Im not quite there yet

I can still feed, heat and clothe us, even have some time away and pay for days/nights out without getting into debt ( not easy but doable )

But why would I not take free money now?

I remember back when I worked for the NHS - my first pension provider, and an old doll retiring at 60 - as we did back then - and back in work full time a months later, because she had chosen to opt out of the pension scheme and pay married woman's NI contributions.

I dont want to be her. So whilst Im getting free money, Ill take it

Im only in the basic WPP now, but I pay the max I can . Its a couple of quid, when you earn so little a couple of quid today that can be a tenner later , its worth it

I think a lot depends on how much the company puts in, a lot seem to put in the minimum.

To me, this is even more reason to save into a private pension. No way am I am going to work until 67. A private pension usually gives you more flexibility to decide when you want to retire.

It's not always the case of not bothering to save. Some people can't afford to save

This. I had zero money to save while my children grew up.

for many it isn't about being 'sensible' - if the choice is feeding your family or saving for a pension what would you prioritise!

the state pension is not high and all of us get the same amount if we have worked sufficient years for NI credits, irrespective of our sensibility.

I hate it when people are so meanspirited and just want to be doing better than others.

This
A colleague has just opted out so she can repay debt
She plans it to be a temporary move

Lots of people can't afford to pay into a pension. It's unrealistic to think that people will prioritise the future over the present if saving/ not saving is the difference between being financially ok and struggling. That's lots of peoples economic reality. They aren't feckless. They are poor.

And because you were bringing up children, your state pension payments were credited to you - the whole time you claimed FA , your stamp was paid - by the taxpayer

Ive never had children, Ive had long instances of ill health where only PT work or Zero hour contracts have been available to me. DH is self employed. If we dont pay our way, there is no tax payers funding our pensions. My husband has to pay all his stamps - and then when out of work as he was a lot during the banking crisis - got not a single penny other then his pension credits - still had to sign on and fill out the job searching and do the job searching that those who were getting their JSA PLUS STAMP paid

TBH, unless you have a family willing to fund you in older life, you need to plan and not expect the tax payer to fund you

This thread got me thinking. I’m so grateful to the lady who went through my graduate scheme paperwork who, when one girl asked about opting out, told us it’d be the worst mistake you ever made. I stayed in and it’s been the easiest money I’ve ever earnt with 25 years of compounding.

I now try to pass on the wisdom and whenever we have new staff and I auto enrol them I always say stick in if you can at all, at 19 you don’t think it’ll matter and you’d rather have the money now but your 50 year old self will thank you!