CCPC say over a fifth of Irish adults have no financial plan in place for their retirement

Research by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has concluded that 21% of adults do not have any financial arrangements in place for retirement. This marks and increase of four percentage points on last year survey, according to the research by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). The consumer watchdog also found the absence of appropriate plans increases to 28% among those aged over 55. However, six in every 10 adults said they do have a pension in place, similar to last year’s findings.

“It’s clear that a significant pensions gap still exists, even among workers who are only 10 or 20 years away from retirement. We strongly encourage consumers, particularly anyone over 30, who doesn’t have a pension to set one up immediately, even if their contributions are very small.” said Grainne Griffin, director of communications with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.

Affordability was cited by just under a third of respondents as being the reason why they have no provision, while a quarter said they simply had not got around to it and 69% said they plan on using a State pension to fund their retirement. More than half of those surveyed said they plan to use savings to fund or partially fund their later years. However, this means that they are potentially missing out on the tax benefits that pension plans attract.

Two thirds of the 739 respondents surveyed by the CCPC said they have never had a one-to-one conversation with a financial advisor about retirement and nearly three quarters of consumers said they would be more willing to increase their pension contributions if they were to be matched by the employer.

The survey comes as the Government continues to plan the rollout of pension auto-enrolment, which would see workers automatically added into a private pension scheme unless they opt out.

Discuss your financial plan with us today to ensure you can retire comfortably and maximise your earnings, call us on 071 9194194 or email financial@obg.ie