A quarter (25%) of Britons believe investing in property is the best way of saving for their retirement, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Recent research conducted revealed that 45% of respondents considered workplace pensions to be the safest method of saving for retirement, whilst 12% believe that a personal pension is best.
This shows how attitudes have changed since 2018, when nearly half (49%) of the participants believed that investing in property was the safest bet.
Ian Browne, a retirement expert at wealth management business Quilter, believes people take comfort from bricks and mortar, and that many have a long-held obsession with property.
Steve Webb, director of policy at Royal London, believes investing in property is not necessarily the most suitable long-term option. Mr Webb said:
“It is understandable the public might imagine that property was the best way to save for retirement as it is more tangible than a pension, and pensions all too often attract negative headlines.
Saving through a workplace pension is a hugely effective use of money, not just because of generous tax breaks but because of the money that an employer will contribute.
The problem is that the employer contribution is often ‘invisible’ to workers.”
Many financial experts believe that auto-enrolment has paid a huge role in the numbers of people contributing towards their workplace pension as over 9.5 million people have enrolled in pension schemes since auto-enrolment came into force in 2012.
Will the Coronavirus crisis impact my plans?
As data collected by the ONS covered only April 2018 to March 2020, the impact that the coronavirus crisis has had on the property market as well as people’s attitude towards work have not been counted in the results.
In the next report, we will be able to see how people’s confidence in the standard of their retirement has changed, if at all. However, with so many suffering the results of a lack of planning ahead for potential crises, it is likely that many will be far more cautious with their plans for the future.
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