Number of retirees with no pension falls 9% since 2008, says research

The insurer's research tracked the retirement finances, plans and aspirations of people retiring each year since 2008, and compared the results to those retiring in 2017.

The study, which polled around 1,000 people from November 2008 to November 2016, showed the total number of savers without a pension has dropped from 23% to 14% in the last nine years.

Almost a fifth of women (19%) retired with no pension savings in 2017, falling from nearly a third (32%) in 2008, while for the men the figure was just 9% in 2017 after falling from 17% in 2008.

The results also demonstrated half of the women polled felt financially ready to retire, compared to 39% in 2008.

People retiring in 2017 were expected to be £600 worse off per year than 2008 retirees - with those stopping work this year expected to live on £18,100 per annum, compared with £18,700 for 2008 retirees.

However, it is an improvement from 2009, where retirees were expected to receive £17,800 per year, and 2013, where the annual income for those retiring was estimated to be just £15,300 per year.

The study also found the number of workers receiving the majority of their income from a final salary scheme fell by 10 percentage points to 52% from 2008.

The same data demonstrated the state pension provided 35% of retirement income for those retiring in 2017, compared to 32% for those retiring in 2008.

Prudential retirement expert Kirsty Anderson said: "Having spoken to new retirees every year since the start of the financial crisis, what have we learned?

"During a decade in which the financial climate has been mainly pretty gloomy, the results from our research over the last few years have started to suggest a light at the end of the tunnel for new pensioners.

She added as the responsibility for retirement provision has continued to shift from employers and the government onto individuals, people are starting to learn the retirement saving lesson.

She continued: "So even as we see gold-plated final-salary pensions increasingly consigned to the history books for new retirees, the success of government initiatives such as automatic-enrolment mean we will see fewer people reaching retirement with no pension savings.

"We would like to think that as more people save as much as possible as early as possible in their working lives, we will see the incomes new retirees expect to live on gradually improve over the coming years." 

Prudential retirement income expert Vince Smith-Hughes added: "Since 2008 we have also seen a continued shift in the responsibility for retirement provision away from government and employers and onto the individual.

"But for most people looking to provide for as comfortable a retirement as possible the best approach remains the same now as it did back in 2008 - [they should] save as much as possible into a pension as early as possible in [their] working life."

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