Commenting on the Scottish Widows pension report, which was released today, Tom McPhail said people were faced with three choices: working longer, saving earlier or saving more.
Scottish Widows reported that people expected to need £25,000 a year in retirement but had saved significantly less than this. The average amount people had saved was £122,000 which would give them around £4,000 per year in retirement income excluding the State Pension.
For many older people, it could be too late to make a substantial difference unless they choose to work longer or there is a substantial rise in interest rates.
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Mr McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said auto-enrolment would help younger people but rates were too low.
He said: "For those in their 20s and 30s there is still time to make a significant difference but only if they can be persuaded to engage with their retirement savings; regrettably too much of the current pension policy is specifically intended to distance people from taking responsibility for their pensions and investments.
"As the working population is enrolled into company pensions schemes over the next few years, the priority should be to increase the contribution rates. The default eight per cent is inadequate to build a decent retirement income; it is a good start but more will be required."

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