Aegon criticises "shocking extent of pension gender gap"

One in three women don’t know how much they have saved in pensions, compared to just one in five men, and women are more likely to have no pension arrangements in place at all, with 15% of women compared to 11% of men failing to pay into a pension plan of any kind.

When it comes to saving enough for retirement, significantly more men (15%) than women (4%) have saved more than £300,000 in pension savings – the amount that someone on average earnings would need to maintain their current lifestyle in retirement.

The research also found that just 6% of women compared to 13% of men are very confident that they will have ample funds for retirement.

Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, commented: “These figures are staggering and show just how wide the gap between men and women is when it comes to preparing well for retirement. We know that there a number of factors that impact a women’s ability to save for retirement including career breaks to raise a family or care for elderly parents, however our research shows that many women are burying their heads in the sand and failing to prepare for retirement.

“The widening pensions saving gap between men and women shouldn’t be ignored and the sooner that women are able to engage with pension saving, the better. Everyone should think ahead to retirement, regardless of their age or gender and when it comes to pension saving, it’s good to regularly check in how much you hold in savings and where possible think about paying in more in order to have the lifestyle you want in retirement.”