UK. Poverty risk in old age from pension ignorance

People are putting themselves at risk of poverty in old age by failing to properly calculate their pensions, a state watchdog has warned.

Ger Deering, the pensions ombudsman, has expressed concern that many workers are finding themselves with inadequate provisions because they do not put enough time and effort into understanding their retirement packages. “In our experience many scheme members are not familiar enough with the terms applying under their pension scheme or the basis of computing benefits,” Mr Deering said.

He said that with longer life expectancy men and women aged 65 could expect to live to 86 and 88 respectively, so it was crucial that people understood what benefit entitlements would be available to them in retirement.

Read full news here: The Times