Half of UK adults think investing in property is the method of saving for retirement that makes the most of their money, according to an Office for National Statistics report.

This figure has gone up from 40% from July 2010 to June 2012.

By contrast, only 20% said they think an employer pension makes the most of their money (down from 26% in July 2012 to June 2014).

Nathan Long, senior pension analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Confusion with pension planning is worryingly on the rise. Investing in property is seen as the best way of making most of your money despite it being one of the least tax efficient ways to invest.”

The ONS has released data from the Wealth and Assets Survey covering attitudes towards saving for retirement for the period July 2016 to Dec 2016.

Employer pensions remain the safest way to save for retirement (38%), with personal pensions seeing a rise in perceived security from 11% (July 2014 to June 2016) to 14%.

In terms of reasons for not being in a pension, the response that ‘I don’t know enough about pensions’ increased from 11% (July 2014 to June 2016) to 15% (July 2016 to December 2016).

There has been a decline in people expecting to retire before 65, the figures showed. In addition, 27% of 55 to 64 year olds have not thought how long they might need their savings to last in retirement.

Mr Long said: “More people are now citing a lack of understanding as the reason they are not in their workplace pension, even though auto-enrolment means most will not make any decisions whatsoever to join.

“The tail end of the retirement journey also is starting to show signs of people expecting to work longer, but with more than a quarter of older people not properly planning their retirement the reality could be even more severe.

“As people live longer and the cost of social care rises, the likelihood of inheritances acting as additional income in retirement falls.”