12 February 2007
Only a third of self-employed people are saving sufficiently for their retirement, a survey from Scottish Widows has found – and as many as two in five are failing to save at all.
These Britons’ short-sightedness is even more concerning given that almost six in ten self-employed people are over 50 and nearing retirement age, the pensions provider stressed.
Factors including lack of employer contributions to pension funds stymie their attempts to build up a pensions pot, leaving only 23 per cent able to save regularly, the research showed.
The self-employed ‘grantrepreneurs’ lag behind as the least likely group to be saving adequately for their retirement, since 46 per cent of people in the working population as a whole are saving adequately, Scottish Widows claimed.
“It is understandable that as people get older and have greater experience in their profession that they would want to opt for a more flexible lifestyle,” acknowledged Scottish Widows’ head of pensions market development Ian Naismith.
But he described the financial implications of self-employment as “profound”.
A group of researchers with the Economic and Social Research Council’s eSociety programme is currently exploring how internet pensions access can boost pensions saving among the traditionally ‘under-pensioned’ self-employed.