The idea of retirement as a ‘golden age’ is becoming defunct because people are not saving enough for their pension years, an expert says.

Adding her voice to the others worried about people’s failure to save enough for their retirement, Ali Crossley from Prudential said that it was essential for people to start saving something.

She suggested that individual savings accounts (Isas) were a good option, as were pension schemes.

Prudential recently published its results from a study into people planning to retire in 2008.

It found that many were retiring early and 52 per cent were on final salary pension schemes, while a quarter were relying on a state pension.

“Eight out of ten final salary schemes are closed to new members these days,” she said.

“The answer really is [that] the sooner people start to plan for their retirement the better.”

She added that all the warnings about pensions should not be ignored.

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