Three-quarters of UK adults are clueless about how much is in their pension pot, according to new research.

Alarmingly, four-fifths of 55–64-year-olds have no idea how much their pension savings amounts to.

That’s despite them being at the most crucial stage of retirement planning as they start to look at their options for life after work.

The Retirement Voice study was put together by retirement specialist Standard Life, part of the Phoenix Group, based on data gathered by Boxclever which consulted 6,000 consumers about the issue.

The study also highlighted that women are less likely to know what they’ve saved for retirement up than men, with 81% having no number in mind compared to just 68% of men.

When asked about the amount of income they will need in retirement, women also estimated considerably less than men, opting for £22,428 compared to £32,617. 

When it comes to how much people want to save by retirement age, the amount of income they earned made a big difference, according to the survey.

Those surveyed with a personal income of less than £30,000 said they wanted to save £139,428, compared to £309,755 for those earning between £40,000 and £49,999.

There was a massive increase for higher earners: people surveyed earning above £50,000 wanted to save £821,880, more than £682,000 higher than the lowest earners.

Dean Butler, managing director for customer at Standard Life, said: “Given the increased responsibility individuals now hold for their own pension savings, it’s worrying that the majority can’t estimate how much they’ve got in their pot – particularly those who are approaching or even in retirement now.”

Talking about the gender disparity he said the figures echo what we already know about the gender pension gap – women are likely to earn less throughout their lifetime, often because of leaving the workforce or going part-time for caring responsibilities and as a result they save less for retirement.

He said: “It seems likely that this has caused women to engage less with their pension pots, leading to a lack of knowledge around how much they’ve saved.”

Boxclever conducted research among 6,000 UK adults. Fieldwork was conducted 6 September – 16 October 2022. The data was weighted post-fieldwork to ensure the data remained nationally representative on key demographics.