Aviva found that two fifths (41%) of over-45s never spend any time planning and reviewing their pensions, while almost a third (29%) spend just one day a year or less doing this.
Those who are further away from retirement are most likely to spend no time reviewing their pension, but a quarter (25%) of those retiring in two years or less still fail to dedicate any time towards doing this.
Among those with more than one pension, just 27% manage them all very closely while 34% ignore their secondary pots completely – including a worrying 24% who ignore their main pension pot too. Even among those who have just one pension pot, 33% do not pay any attention to it.
The majority (61%) of over-45s with a personal pension scheme have only joined one scheme, although more than a quarter (28%) have started two or more. A similar proportion (29%) of those with the most common type of company pension – defined contribution – have two or more.
However, many over-45s aren’t sure how many pension schemes they have started. Overall, 6% don’t know how many personal pension schemes they have, rising to 7% who are unclear on the number of defined contribution schemes and 9% that don’t know how many defined benefit schemes they have. This suggests that some savers are unclear about the types of pensions they have and/or are not closely involved in managing them.
Half (49%) of over-45s do nothing about the routine information they receive about their pension, including one in ten (12%) who don’t even read it. Only a third (37%) use the information to check if their pension savings are on track and act upon it. An even smaller proportion (7%) discuss this with a financial adviser or other financial expert.
One in ten (11%) over-45s ignore their annual statements because they say they don’t know how to manage their pensions, while the same proportion believe their pensions are so small they aren’t worth bothering with. 8% delay looking at them until they are ready to retire – when it could already be too late to make any improvements on their financial situation.
However, people tend to make more effort to monitor their pensions the closer they are to retirement – for example, only 7% of those retiring in two years or less believe their small pension pots are not worth the effort, compared to 11% who are retiring in six to 10 years.
Just 14% have consolidated their pension pots or intend to do so in the future. A fifth (17%) will keep their multiple pension schemes separate and 13% are waiting for their pension provider to contact them before deciding what to do with their pots. More than one in ten (14%) prefer to keep things simple by having just one pension pot, and don’t intend to change this in the future.
Of those who have consolidated their pots, 21% did so because they took the advice of their financial adviser – however, nearly the same proportion (19%) did so because they found it easier to manage.
Clive Bolton, Managing Director, Retirement Solutions, Aviva UK Life, said:
“An alarming proportion of the UK’s pensions pots are being left unmonitored, with many simply ignoring their pension statements and hoping for the best. At the heart of this is how involved people are with their pensions – and while they can seem complicated there is lots of online support to help people make sense of their retirement savings.
“At the very least people need to understand what their total savings are across all of their pension pots, so they can plan in an informed way for their retirement.
“Having multiple pension pots can make things more complicated, but it doesn’t necessarily have to if people keep careful track of their savings. However, our research has shown that many people find managing their pensions difficult, and consolidating could therefore make it easier for them."
