Simon Read: Key groups are not saving enough

Savings levels are at a five-year high, according to the annual UK Pension Report from Scottish Widows, published this week.

In fact, more than half of the population are now saving adequately for retirement, the report says.

Meanwhile, the monthly amount people are saving towards retirement outside a pension – in an Isa, for instance – has increased by 141 per cent, from £54 in 2006 to £130 in 2014.

Is that reason to cheer? Not really. Deeper analysis of the statistics reveals key groups of people who remain woefully unprepared for the financial reality of retirement. Just 33 per cent of self-employed people are in a good financial position, for instance. Meanwhile only 36 per cent of divorced women are prepared.

With millions of workers being introduced to the benefits of retirement saving plans through the Government's auto-enrolment scheme, the self-employed have lost out. And if most of them don't act soon, they could miss out on being able to build up a decent pension pot by the time they retire.

Meanwhile, the number of divorced women with adequate pension provision is low because many have relied on their partner's pension arrangements and done nothing about sorting out their own plans since they have separated.

Scottish Widows' Ian Naismith warns: "There are some who are not preparing adequately for a comfortable later life and are at risk of slipping through the net."

In short, if you want your future to be comfortable, you need to take action.

s.read@independent.co.uk

Twitter: @simonnread