An estimated 6.5m UK adults (12%) are waiting until they get married, become parents, or own a home before they think about arranging key financial products, new research warns.

Meanwhile, the age at which people engage significantly with their finances has climbed to 48, according to Legal & General.

The insurance giant's analysis of official records found that the average age at which UK adults have their first child is now at 32, the highest since records began.

The average age for a person to buy their first home has also risen to 34, the highest in decades.

People in the UK are also getting married later, with women on average getting married at 33 and men at 35. The age has increased steadily over the last few decades, up from an average of 29 and 32 in 2000.

Key life milestones are typically when families start to take their finances more seriously, saving more, planning for retirement or taking out protection insurance, pointed out L&G.

Two out of five UK adults who have not started a family (21%) said this was a factor in putting off key financial decisions, including taking out protection insurance (22%), starting to save into a pension (23%) and putting money into savings (18%).

Some 11% of people said they were putting off making financial decisions until they got married and 17% said they were waiting until they bought their own home.

The delays could have a huge impact on people's financial wellbeing, warned L&G. The lack of protection insurance could leave millions of families without a safety net.

Meanwhile putting off pension saving will be contributing to the fact that millions of young people are on track to enter retirement with an annual shortfall of more than £25,000 by the 2060s.

Paula Llewellyn, chief marketing officer and managing director (direct), L&G Retail, said: “The hold up on people putting money into savings, could be contributing to the 30% of UK adults without savings or investments, or less than £1,000 in place to meet surprise costs should they lose their income.”

• Mustard research carried out a nationally representative survey of 2000 adults in January 2024. Analysis conducted by Legal & General based on Opinium Research conducted among 2,000 online interviews of people aged 22-32 in August 2023.