Most of us won’t be sitting pretty when we retire, according to a new survey that shows employees aren’t saving enough.

A new study shows that Irish people aren’t saving nearly enough towards their retirement and may be in for a nasty surprise when they stop working.

The study indicates that the average Irish pension saver puts just €137 per month towards their retirement whereas they would need to be saving considerably more than this to retire comfortably.

According to Standard Life, which commissioned the survey, someone aged 30 years of age would need to be putting a minimum €400 aside per month to give them a pension of €22,000 per annum upon retirement. For older people, the minimum sum required is higher.

This clearly shows as  a nation we are not saving enough for our retirement. How can we address this? You need to calculate your personal pension position with an indication of your pension GAP and what measures you can take to address this GAP.  A qualified financial advisor can help you with this.

Having a gap means that your pension income could be less than you’ll need in retirement.

You should remember that your pension scheme is saving for retirement – it is not a general savings plan and you can’t cash it in for other reasons in the future. So you need to save separately also, be it for weddings, houses, children or that dream trip around the world