The retirement age for state pensions could rise again according to the pensions regulator.

Millions of people will undoubtedly have to wait longer in the future to draw a pension as the life expectancy is rising.

People are afraid to save as much for retirement as they did in the past.

The current state pension age is 60 for women and 65 for men.  It is likely to rise to 68 for women and men by 2044.

People are going to have to work for longer because of the changes to state pensions and partly because as a nation people are not saving as much for retirement as they did in the past.

Private pensions

There is evidence that people are afraid of saving for pensions.  They believe pensions are very complicated.  Actually private pensions and  pension transfer are quite simple. Once you have made the initial decision you can let it run.  It is important to have a private pension as many people believe that with life expectancy rising each year, the government simply cannot afford to maintain state pensions.

Are private pensions safe?

The impact of the economic turndown on the majority of pension schemes is manageable.  We are seeing more and more business suffer in the serious recession which is inevitable.  It is not a problem as long as they stay in business.  As long as they are still in business there is time to sort things out.  Pension schemes are a very slow matter, they aren’t like a banking system that can collapse overnight.