Six out of 10 workers (63%) think their financial knowledge is either excellent or above average, according to a new survey.
The research of 1,015 UK working adults in employment was carried out by Vital Research for Wealth at Work, and aimed to find out how employees are saving for their future retirement.
When asked how they would rate their knowledge on general financial issues such as managing the monthly budget, debt and managing savings, 25% responded excellent, 38% answered above average and 33% said average. Just 4% said below average and 1% answered very poor.
Respondents were also asked what their thoughts and understanding are of their future retirement savings, with more than two out of five 41% admitting they know they are not saving enough for a comfortable retirement and 12% unaware of how much they pay into their pension.
A total of 16% do not know if they are allowed to pay more into their workplace pension and 14% are unsure of how much their employer contributes.
Jonathan Watts-Lay, director at Wealth at Work, commented that the findings show that it is quite common for people to overestimate their financial ability, with them possibly thinking their financial knowledge is excellent or at least above average, but actually in many cases are not saving enough for retirement and do not understand how to make the most of their workplace pensions.
He explained that financial education and guidance in the workplace can ensure employees realise how valuable workplace pensions are and how to maximise their savings, for example, how they could free up money to ensure pensions are affordable.
“Many [employers] are now seeing the benefit of sourcing specialist financial wellbeing provides to help employees improve their financial future, covering everything from debt and money management through to optimising employer sponsored benefits and retirement,” Watts-Lay said.
