Trustnet Magazine Issue 42 JULY 2018 | Page 20

Your portfolio 18 / 19 A Junior SIPP could help you give your child’s pension an early leg-up. But, asks Anthony Luzio, is it wise to deprive them of what could be their largest asset for up to 55 years? Old before their time T hat people aren’t saving enough for retirement is hardly ground-breaking news. Yet the figures never cease to amaze. The Financial Lives survey, a recent study of 13,000 people from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), found the state pension is the main source of income for 44 per cent of retirees in the UK. It also indicated 31 per cent of adults have no private pension provision, 57 per cent have no cash savings or savings of less than £5,000, and 71 per cent have no investments at all. While people who start their working lives today will be auto- enrolled into a workplace pension scheme, the evidence suggests the amount of money that most of them are putting away and the level of risk they are taking on is unlikely to be enough to fund the lifestyle they expect to follow in retirement. And, with the boom in house prices pushing the average age of a first-time buyer in the UK up to 30, many are The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that the state pension is the main source of income for 44 per cent of retirees in the UK trustnet.com