\n Age Scotland said the study demonstrated the \u201cstark challenge\u201d facing people approaching retirement, warning that many lacked the knowledge, confidence or access to advice needed to prepare.\n<\/p>\n
\n Katherine Crawford, the charity\u2019s chief executive, said: \u201cWe\u2019re really worried about the lack of financial preparedness for retirement and these figures demonstrate the stark challenge facing huge numbers of Scots.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s not knowing where to turn, the cost of seeking trusted and professional advice, feeling it\u2019s too soon to be looking at their retirement finances, or the complicated nature of their pensions, people are heading towards retirement without enough knowledge and confidence to prepare effectively.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Retirement timebomb as 1.6m Scots have no plan for life after work (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n
\n The findings are part of a wider picture of financial insecurity in Scotland, where many people are struggling with day-to-day costs and have little protection against an unexpected bill or loss of income.\n<\/p>\n
\n The MoneyView Scotland 2026 analysis, based on a representative survey of 1,257 people, found that 45% of working-age Scots are not saving regularly. Almost half are struggling to keep up with financial commitments, falling behind or having fallen behind.\n<\/p>\n
\n One in seven often uses a credit card, overdraft or borrowed money to pay for food or bills after running short of cash.\n<\/p>\n
\n A quarter of adults said they could not meet an unexpected \u00a3300 bill from spare money or affordable borrowing, while half said they could not last three months without borrowing if they lost their main source of income.\n<\/p>\n
\n The findings come against a backdrop of deep wealth inequality in Scotland. A Scottish Government<\/a> examination found that a third of adults have no private pension savings, while the least wealthy 10% of households have typical total wealth of just \u00a37,600, compared with \u00a31.3 million among the wealthiest tenth.\n<\/p>\n \n One in five Scottish households has insufficient savings to keep them above the poverty line for a month if they lose their income.\n<\/p>\n \n Read More:\n<\/p>\n \n The consequences can already be seen among today\u2019s pensioners, with 130,000 people in Scotland living in relative poverty after housing costs in 2022\u201325, according to the latest Scottish Government<\/a> assessment.\n<\/p>\n \n Ms Crawford said Age Scotland had supported thousands of workers and hundreds of Scottish companies with retirement planning, and had seen the difference that good information could make.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen people get high-quality information and advice, and the time to really think about their future, they feel more confident and empowered to make informed decisions,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \n But she warned that too many people were leaving retirement planning too late or had no access to support.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWe believe that there should be much more funding from the Scottish Government so employers, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can provide pensions and retirement planning for their staff throughout their working lives,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWhile there are some really good and free services available, there isn\u2019t enough and it doesn\u2019t always do what people need.\u201d\n<\/p>\n \n \n Ms Crawford said the planned Pensions Dashboard\u2014a digital service intended to let people see information about all their private pensions in one place\u2014would help people understand what they had saved, but added that they would still need \u201csolid, impartial advice\u201d on what to do with the information.\n<\/p>\n \n She said Age Scotland\u2019s own research showed a quarter of people over 50 who had not yet retired had no pension provision, while only 13% were confident they had saved enough to live on after stopping work.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cFinancial pressures are also eroding people\u2019s ability to prepare, with around three in ten people in their fifties saving less for retirement,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n \n The anxiety continues after retirement, she added, with almost half of retired people saying they were not confident or were very worried that their savings and income would meet their needs. Fourteen per cent feared their money would run out.\n<\/p>\n \n One Edinburgh<\/a>-based financial analyst said the findings pointed to a problem that went beyond a lack of pension knowledge.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThe concern is not simply that many people have failed to make a retirement plan. It is that planning only helps if people have enough money to put aside.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen households are struggling to meet everyday costs or have little savings to fall back on, retirement can feel like a distant problem that they cannot afford to address.\n<\/p>\n \n \u201cThis study points to a risk that financial insecurity today will become a lack of security in later life. Better pension information matters, but it needs to be matched by action that makes saving realistic for people on lower incomes and those in insecure work.\u201d\n<\/p>\nMillions of Scots risk an uncertain retirement without a financial plan (Image: Web)\n<\/p>\n