A new study of young adults by the UK’s leading discount and voucher codes website has revealed that two thirds of respondents believe the state pension to be much more than it really is, guessing they would receive £10k a year if they were of retirement age now claiming state pension.

Research by the UK’s leading discount website of 1,823 young adults in England and Wales, aged 18-25, has found that 64% of respondents believe the basic State Pension to currently be ‘at least £10k per year’ when, in reality, the maximum basic amount is actually £97.65 per week; a total of just over £5,077 per year.

The poll was conducted by www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, in order to discover more about young adults’ attitudes and knowledge towards pensions and their financial situation later on in life.

More than half of the respondents to the study, 51%, said they had ‘not thought about’ their pension at all and only 11% had some kind of pension scheme set up. 49% thought they would claim a State Pension once they had retired, rather than use a personal pension.

Two thirds thought the state pension would allow them to receive ‘at least £10k per year’ – around £200 per week – if they were of retirement age right now, but the maximum basic State Pension you can currently get is £97.65 a week; just over £5,000 a year. 11% of respondents wrongly assumed that basic State Pension entitled them to £20,000 a year.

Of the respondents that thought they would claim a State Pension later in life, 71% believed it was their ‘right to do so’, whilst a third, 34%, felt they were ‘owed the money’.

21% said they liked the idea of putting money into a savings account, to gather interest and use later in life when they retire, rather than having to arrange a pension scheme.

Farhad Farhadi, personal finance expert at http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, commented on the findings;

“Although a pension is something young adults won’t be getting for many years to come, it doesn’t mean it is something they should put to the beck of their mind. Starting a pension scheme at a young age will allow for them to get the best possible return later on in life, so it’s certainly worth thinking about.

“I was surprised to see that the majority of the respondents thought the State Pension was twice as much as it really is; this just goes to prove further the need for young people to research the facts of pensions a bit more. After all, it’s something that will affect them at some point in their life.”

He concluded, “It’s obvious that by the time this generation of young adults come to claim a pension, rates will be very different indeed. The whole system may have changed, so it’s hard to tell how the young adults of today will be affected.”

LINK http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange interviews, please contact Shannon Haigh or 10 Yetis PR Agency on shannon@10yetis.co.uk.

EDITORS NOTES

Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 29, his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year

Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk is the UK’s most popular discount site.

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