Alarm bells are ringing again after further dark news about pension saving in the UK.

A lack of planning, a lack of knowledge, and just not getting around to thinking about pensions means that even those who are saving into a workplace or personal pension are still doing so passively.

We save according to the legal minimums required, rather than asking ourselves the crucial question: how much will I need, and how much must I save right now, in order to get there?

Before we come to workplace and personal pensions, let’s look at what we’ll get from our basic state pension.

We can put this in context by comparing the UK’s basic state pension to other countries.

This should show how essential a second or third savings strand, such as a workplace or personal pension, will be. In a landmark study, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) looked at the various state pensions in developed countries around the world.

They worked out the ‘replacement rate’ for each, meaning what percentage of your country’s average wage you get from your state pension.

They stunned us all by announcing that, with just 29 per cent, the UK is absolutely bottom of the pile, behind even Poland and Mexico, and far short of the European average of 71 per cent.

Our reputation as the world’s ‘pensions miser’ is rubbed in further when you see the countries at the top of the list, who maintain nearly the full working wage with their state pension: with 102 per cent Turkey actually rises above it, as does the Netherlands with 100.6 per cent.

India gives 99.3 per cent, Portugal 94.9 per cent and Italy 93.2 per cent. In other words, while these countries maintain people’s standard of living measured by the average working wage, the UK cuts it by two-thirds.

Read more @Irish News