Almost half (49%) of UK savers have avoided asking a question about their pension because they feared it was too basic or embarrassing, according to research from PensionBee.
The findings, released at the start of Talk Money Week (Monday 2 November to Friday 6 November), point to a wider confidence gap. Just 13% of savers said they were very confident they understood how their pension works, while 52% said they were not very confident or not at all confident.
Becky O’Connor, head of pensions at PensionBee, said: “Pensions still make otherwise confident people go quiet. Nobody wants to admit they don’t know what their pension is worth, or that they’ve lost track of an old workplace pot from a job they left a decade ago.”
Savers were least sure about how much they will have when they retire (22%) and how much they need to save (19%). These were followed by how to track down pensions from old jobs (14%), when and how they can access their savings (12%) and how their pension is invested (9%). Just 10% said they were confident about all of these.
In total, 42% said they had lost track of a pension from a previous job at some point, and 25% have yet to find it.
PensionBee has paired the survey with analysis of the questions its account managers, known as BeeKeepers, receive from customers. The company said they handled an average of more than 23,000 enquiries a month over the past 12 months, through live chat, phone and email.
Tracking down old pensions is among the most common queries, alongside when savers can access their pension and whether they can take money out early. According to PensionBee, some questions point to deeper misunderstandings. Some savers ask how much interest their pension will pay, as if it were a savings account rather than an investment. Others are unsure of the difference between defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pensions.
O’Connor said there was “no such thing as a silly pension question” and that many people were asking the same ones. Asking them “can be the first step towards taking control of your financial future”, she added.