One expert is advising women to make financial provision for their own retirement rather than depending on their partner for support.

Tony McPhail, from Hargreaves Lansdown, says that women should have an extra incentive to save money for their retirement as they are more likely to suffer financial hardship in old age.

Women tend to live longer than men and because many women take career breaks to have children, they end up with less retirement savings rights. Add to that the fact that husbands often save in a pension scheme that dies with them, leaving the widow without an income, and it is easy to see why women need to take more of a forward thinking approach to retirement.

McPhail made his comments after a survey by Prudential revealed that more than 1 in 4 employed women (28%) aged 40 and above plan to survive on their husband’s pension after they’ve left work.

However, there is growing concern that the majority of people will not have saved anywhere near enough money during their employment to enable them to enjoy their retirement. A recent survey from Aviva found that every adult will need to save on average £10,300 a year in order to retire comfortably.

The senior policy adviser for the National Association of Pension Funds, James Walsh, said that we are facing a pensions crisis in the UK and the sooner people start planning for their retirement, the better. In fact the UK is in the unenviable position of having the largest per person pensions gap in all of Europe, followed by Germany, the Republic of Ireland, France, Spain and Russia.

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Out of the UK’s 17 million strong workforce, nearly half of them haven’t even reviewed their pension plans, according to new data released recently by asset manager Barings. Contractor accountants might want to consider whether their clients fall into this bracket!

ISM Research conducted the poll on Barings’ behalf and found that 48 per cent of those interviewed had never reviewed their pension plan. 21 per cent of respondents admitted to reviewing their plan sometime in the previous year.

The survey, gathered information from 1,478 workers, weighing the answers by population, found that a full one third of the people who answered that they had indeed reviewed their pension plan couldn’t recall if they had chosen the default contribution option or not contributions.

Nearly 20 per cent of respondents that had no knowledge of where their pension funds were invested were either at the age of 55 or older.

Barings conducted similar research last year, and in a comparison of the findings, more UK workers are making their own investment decisions than in 2009, but there was also a 43 per cent increase in the amount of people neglecting to review their plans as well.

Marino Valensise, chief investment officer for Barings, stated that it was concerning to see so many people, including limited company contractors, have either a reduced interest – or no interest at all – in planning financially for their elder years.

Mr Valensise also commented on the responsibilities of the investment industry, calling for an improvement to the methods in which pension advice is given in order to ensure people have a more through understanding of risk levels and the kind of return they can expect from their investments.

In related news, the Fair Investment Company’s head of investment and pension research, George Ladds, recently recommended younger members of Britain’s workforce should consider retirement planning that includes investing in ISAs by contributing at least £50 on a monthly basis from age 30 and afterwards.

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