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Planning for retirement is something many of us know we should do – but often don’t.
Whether it’s confusion over complex financial jargon, uncertainty about how much to save, or simply feeling that it’s too late, it can be tempting to put off tackling our pensions in favour of focusing on other financial priorities. Yet delaying action can have serious consequences for your future financial security.
In this article, we explore the psychology behind why people avoid planning for retirement and highlight five common reasons that often get in the way.
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If you’re considering seeking professional financial advice on the options available to you, nationwide advice firm HUB Financial Solutions is offering you a free initial consultation with an expert retirement specialist. There’s no obligation; it’s to help you understand your options and how our services work. If you choose to receive paid-for regulated advice, we’ll explain how that works and the fees involved.
HUB Financial Solutions is rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot (Mar 2026). With investing, your capital is at risk.
We’re put off by financial jargon and complex choices
A study commissioned by the Money and Pensions Service into barriers to planning for retirement and later life found that one of the main factors preventing people from saving into pensions is complexity.
Individuals often feel overwhelmed by the number of choices and information available to them, which can put them off saving altogether. The analysis found that there is a strong positive relationship between financial knowledge and literacy, and retirement planning. Those who’ve experienced higher levels of formal education and who are on higher incomes are more likely to plan for retirement compared to those on lower incomes who perhaps have received a lower level of education.
This is supported by research carried out by the National Centre for Social Research. Its report ‘Planning for retirement: the pensions gap and attitudes’ found that 90% of employees in the highest income bracket said they regularly saved into workplace pensions, compared to just 57% of those in the lowest income bracket.
What you can do: If you’ve avoided addressing retirement planning because of difficult jargon, there are several resources which may help. Our guide Pensions jargon unravelled can help you get to grips with some of the terms that you might find confusing. If you’re still feeling stumped by it all, read our article How to get pension advice which can tell you where to go to get help.
You’ll have to pay if you want pension advice from a financial advisor, but you can get free pension guidance from the Pension Wise website. This was set up by the Government to offer free and impartial guidance to people who have a personal pension scheme.
If you are aged 50 or over and have a defined contribution pension, you can book a free telephone or face-to-face appointment with them to help you make sense of your options. This is almost always worth doing as it provides a free starting point to help you on your way.
We don’t know how much we should be paying in
Studies confirm that not knowing how much to save – and being unclear on pension types, entitlements, and tax relief – are major psychological barriers preventing adequate pension saving.
After all, if you don’t have a clue how much you should be saving for retirement, it can be easy to push your pension to the bottom of your priority list.
Nearly a third of people do not know how much they should be saving into their pensions, according to recent analysis from Hargreaves Lansdown. It found that 29% of the 1,400 people surveyed did not know how much money they needed to fund their retirement, rising to 44% of over-55s.
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis, said: “This is concerning not only because they are close to the age at which they would want to retire, but they could also face curveballs in the coming years, such as ill health, which could force them to leave the workforce early. If they aren’t on track, then there’s a nasty surprise in store.”
The Government has launched a Pensions Commission to explore the critical question of contribution adequacy and how much people should be putting away.
James Carter, Head of Platform Policy at Fidelity International, said: “Despite the success of auto-enrolment, we know that many people are not saving enough and risk reaching retirement with a significant financial shortfall. This is particularly true of certain demographic and working groups, and the Commission’s plans to explore this are a welcome step towards narrowing the pension gaps that exist.”
Lots of us convince ourselves that if we haven’t made our own provision for retirement, the State Pension will provide us with enough of a financial safety net to fall back on.
The harsh reality, however, is that the State Pension will barely provide us with enough to cover our everyday living costs, let alone provide anything left for luxuries. The State Pension age is also gradually being pushed back, so that most people won’t even start receiving it until they are in their late 60s.
What you can do: If you’ve avoided retirement planning thus far because you’ve no clue how much you need to be saving for your future, our article How much should I save for retirement? may help.
A good starting point is often to look at what kind of income your existing pension savings might provide you with. A pension contribution calculator can help you work this out. For most of these to work properly, you’ll need to provide your annual income, the current value of your pension pot, and the amount you and your employer contribute to your pension each month to hand.
Bear in mind that none of these calculators can accurately predict the future, and factors such as investment performance, inflation, wage growth and changes to the State Pension will all have a considerable impact on your retirement funds and the income they’ll provide you with. However, they can provide you with a useful guide as to what you could potentially expect.
Once you have a rough idea of how much you already have, it’s worth thinking about what sort of lifestyle you want when you eventually retire and how much you’re likely to need to pay for it. That way, you’ll be able to assess what sort of pension shortfall you might currently be facing so you can think about how to make it up. Read our articles Can you afford to retire? and 11 simple ways to top up your pension in 2025 to find out more.
We think we’ve left it too late
If you’re in your 50s or 60s and haven’t given your pension much attention over the years, it’s understandable you might feel you’ve left it too late to do anything about it.
Many of us prioritise raising children and paying off our mortgages before putting any surplus cash into our pensions. By the time other financial demands have lessened, you may think you’ve missed the boat.
Data from the Planning and Preparing for Later Life 2024 survey shows that 18% of adults aged 40–75 without a private pension cite the belief that “it’s too late to start a pension” as a reason they haven’t begun saving. This was even more common among older groups – nearly one in five (17%) of those aged 55–59, and more than one in four (26%) of 60–64-year-olds gave that reason.
These beliefs often align with regret and pessimism – particularly among older groups – both of which contribute to inaction.
What you can do: If you’ve still got a few years to go before you retire, then it’s definitely not too late to start thinking about pensions. Read our article Five reasons why it’s not too late to start saving into a pension to find out why.
One of the main reasons pensions are worthwhile at any age is that you’ll receive tax relief on the contributions you make. For example, if you’re a basic rate taxpayer, a £100 contribution into your pension will only cost you £80 thanks to tax relief. If you’re a higher-rate taxpayer, the same contribution will only set you back £60.
If you’re in your 50s or 60s it could be even more worthwhile paying into a pension if you’re looking ahead to retirement, as you’ll still qualify for tax relief on your contributions up to the age of 75 and you’ll also be able to access your pension savings (including the top up from the taxman) much sooner than someone younger. Read more in our guide How pension tax relief works.
We focus on today not tomorrow
It’s human nature to focus on what’s going on now, because that’s the only point in time that actually exists for us, so it makes sense that we pay it more attention than the past or future. However, when it comes to retirement planning this ‘present bias’ can be detrimental as it can prevent us from saving enough for life after work.
It’s not hard to see why the here and now takes priority. Steep living costs have made it challenging for many households to make ends meet, let alone worry about putting money away for the future.
A recent report from the banking regulator the Financial Conduct Authority, which lays out key behavioural barriers to pension engagement, confirms this, showing people prioritise immediate needs over future benefits, and therefore often neglect pension planning.
What you can do: Behavioural science shows smaller, nearer goals feel more achievable so rather than seeing retirement as something huge that you’ll never be able to save enough for, try setting yourself small, achievable goals – like where you’d like to be financially at 60 or 65.
You don’t have to make massive financial changes either. Even adding an extra £100 a month to your pension if you can afford to, or looking at ways you can make savings elsewhere so you can give your retirement savings a boost, especially with employer contributions and tax relief.
If you can’t afford to put away anything right now, consider whether your financial circumstances are likely to change in the next couple of years, which could change things. For example, might you have nearly finished paying off your mortgage and once you have, could you divert some of this money into your pension?
We’re relying on our partner’s pension
Many people put off making their one provision for retirement because they think they can rely on their partner’s pension to support them. This can contribute to undersaving and financial vulnerability later on.
According to research by Hargreaves Lansdown, only just over a quarter of people said they were not reliant on their partner’s pension. Men were far more likely to say they would be able to manage on their own, with 31% saying they weren’t reliant on a partner’s pension compared to 22% of women.
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “It’s vital that couples plan together for their retirement. Talking things through can mean you are both aligned with your goals and how to get there. However, it’s also important that one partner is not overly reliant on the other’s pension, because if the worst were to happen and you part ways, this could mean you are very close to retirement with little in the way of pension – unromantic but true.
“If you are planning for retirement together then, to an extent, there will be reliance on both people’s pension to make the plan work, but both partners also need to be in a position where they could get by in retirement on their own if they had to. However, 14% said their partner would be paying most of the costs in retirement and 5% said they didn’t have a pension at all.”
What you can do: Relying on a partner’s pension can lead to financial vulnerability, especially if the relationship breaks down or your partner dies.
It’s therefore crucial for individuals to have a clear understanding of their own retirement savings and to engage in open discussions with their partners about financial planning. That is not to say couples cannot help each other if one person’s retirement savings are lacking.
For example, if you’re married, your spouse has the option to make contributions to a personal pension on your behalf, helping to boost your retirement savings. However, it’s important to know that you don’t need to be married or in a civil partnership to pay into a pension for someone else. For instance, you can open a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) for a dependent, including children under 18, which is known as a Junior SIPP. This allows you to start building a pension for a younger family member long before they reach adulthood.
You can also contribute to someone else’s existing SIPP, although the account must first be set up by the individual who will ultimately own it. Contributing to a loved one’s pension can help provide them with long-term financial security, but remember that you mustn’t neglect your own planning. Find out more in our guide Can my husband or wife pay into my pension?
A final thought…
While it’s easy to put off pension planning, understanding the psychological barriers that hold us back can help us take better control of our financial future.
Whether it’s tackling complex jargon, setting achievable savings goals, or ensuring you don’t rely solely on a partner’s pension, every step counts. The key is to start where you are, make informed decisions, and take small but consistent actions to secure a retirement that offers both comfort and peace of mind. Remember, it’s never too late to plan for tomorrow – your future self will thank you.
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If you’re considering seeking professional financial advice on the options available to you, nationwide advice firm HUB Financial Solutions is offering you a free initial consultation with an expert retirement specialist. There’s no obligation; it’s to help you understand your options and how our services work. If you choose to receive paid-for regulated advice, we’ll explain how that works and the fees involved.
HUB Financial Solutions is rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot (Mar 2026). With investing, your capital is at risk.
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