Standard Life found that 21 per cent of people aged 45-65 do not feel their current financial plan will be able to support them in the future and six per cent of this age group do not think they will ever be able to retire.
The firm questioned over 2,000 people aged 45-65 and weighted them representative of all UK adults. There are currently an estimated 12.5m people in this age category in the UK who have not yet retired.
A further 10 per cent of people questioned have never been confident of retiring.
Some 37 per cent of respondents did not currently have any financial plans in place at all.
The majority of 45-65 year olds expected to be able to retire between 61 and 70 years old and 64 per cent had confidence their financial plans would support them.
John Lawson, head of pensions policy at Standard Life, said: “The current financial crisis has brought into sharp focus the need to make and review appropriate plans.”