'Britain sleepwalking towards impoverished retirement'

Britain is "sleepwalking towards an impoverished retirement" due to a major shortfall in retirement savings, a firm behind a year long study has warned. Many people will never be able to retire, with millions of pension pots set to become empty after just five years, according to the True Potential story. Savers told researchers that they would need £23,457 per year as a comfortable retirement income but UK pension funds could only support that amount for five years. Average pensions pot would only pay out £6,011 per year in today's money, according to the research.It was carried out as part of the 'Savings Gap' campaign by financial and technology services firm True Potential.The year-long investigation into Britain's savings and debt habits, involving more than 8,000 savers, revealed that people in Britain are putting aside only a quarter of the amount needed for a comfortable retirement. {desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile} The target of £23,457 would require a total fund of £469,140 from which savers could draw down five per cent over 20 years.Based on current savings levels however, Brits are only on course to build a retirement fund worth £120,213, meaning that it could only support the desired annual income for five years before becoming exhausted.True Potential managing partner David Harrison said: "These figures show the size of the problem we face as a nation. Britain is sleepwalking towards an impoverished retirement and the reality for many in society today is that they will simply be unable ever to retire. "That is a scary prospect and we should be in no doubt about the radical overhaul of financial education, regulation and culture that will be required to address this."The seeds of the savings gap were sown in non-existent personal finance education, overly-complicated products and a buy-now-pay-later culture that has become part of society."We have also become a nation of cautious investors, preferring to save in cash, which simply means that inflation is destroying the power of those savings every day."

'Britain sleepwalking towards impoverished retirement'

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