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DWP: Retirement expectations not matched by preparations
14 February 2008 12:00
Regions where people have high expectations of retirement are also those where they are saving the least, a new poll by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has found.
In Scotland, 84 per cent of under-34s believe that they can maintain their current standard of living when they give up work, as do 75 per cent of young adults living in the south-west and 73 per cent of those living in the south-east.
Yet 66 per cent of the south-west's under-34s still have not actually started saving toward this end yet, nor have 53 per cent living in either the West Midlands or the north-west, or 51 per cent of young Scots.
As a result, people in the south-west face the biggest gap between retirement hopes and realities, followed by the Scots and then by people in the West Midlands, where 70 per cent of young adults hope to keep up their current standard of living in retirement.
Reflecting on these findings, pensions minister Mike O'Brien warned that pensions are not just for pensioners and that young people who do not start saving now could miss out by failing to make their money work harder for them.
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