Four in five Irish adults under 35 do not know the level of State Pension, according to research by the Irish Association of Pension Funds.

The survey, conducted by IReach for the IAPF, sought to examine retirement planning in Ireland and whether people are being realistic as to their expectations for retirement age. It concluded that people simply avoid thinking about retirement for much of their working lives.

Half of those surveyed believe they will have to work to at least 70 and over one third think they will need to work as long as they can.

The IAPF said the results show a clear dearth of knowledge amongst the Irish public when it comes to understanding how much the state pays out to people once they hit retirement age, with six in ten Irish adults guessing the wrong amount.

IAPF CEO Jerry Moriarty said people cannot ignore sensible retirement planning by committing to work forever. He said, those over the age of 55 have the greatest awareness of how much they will receive from the state but pension statistics show many have left it too late.

“Pension participation is notoriously poor in Ireland with just 50 per cent of workers saving for retirement. For this reason we thought it pertinent to determine at what age the Irish public, both those with pensions and those without, believe they will be able to stop working and enjoy their retirement,” he added.

The results were mixed, as 41 per cent of women think they will still be working at 70 or as long as they can, compared to 34 per cent of men.

Overall, 29 per cent said they will retire before 64 and 27 per cent said they will have to keep working as long as they are able, while a further 11 per cent said they can see themselves working past 70.

The IAPF survey revealed that age is an influencing factor as four in ten people in the younger age bracket, 18-34, think they will have to work as long as they can, and 50 per cent of respondents over 55 planning to retire/ having retired before aged 64.

“Unfortunately, the results illustrate the lack of knowledge that exists around retirement and pensions. It is an issue that will affect us all and so people should be giving it some thought. However the reality of the fact is people actually don’t know how much they could expect from the State in retirement now… which leads me to believe that they haven’t actually considered their financial plans for retirement at all. This highlights the need for financial education that includes pensions and retirement planning,” Moriarty said.

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