Brits spend 26 times longer shopping for Christmas presents than they do for pension annuities, research from Aviva has revealed.

According to the research, Brits spend an average of three days, six hours and 35 minutes per year shopping around for Christmas presents, which amounts to six months over a lifetime, compared to just seven days spent shopping for a pension annuity.

Commenting on the research, Darren Dicks, head of annuities at Aviva said: “It’s great to see that people are becoming more savvy as consumers and are trying to shop around to get the best.

“However, it’s worrying that we might spend more time choosing Christmas presents for our dog than we would finding the best product to see us through the whole of our retirement!”

Overall, the annual holiday is one of the most important purchases, with more than half of adults saying they would spend more than a week researching their holiday before booking, amounting to 311 days in a lifetime.

Nevertheless, almost half of people questioned said that they would consult more than 11 sources of information before buying, compared to a third of adults who said they would refer to five sources when shopping for car and home insurance.

Mr Dicks adds: “By shopping around for an annuity, people can increase their retirement income by 10 per cent or more. If people invest time in planning for retirement sooner than later, as well as getting sound financial advice, they can prepare for the retirement they deserve.”

© Fair Investment company Ltd