A typical young adult aged 20-40 wants to retire at 59 with an annual retirement income of £26,000, according to new research. 

More than six out of 10 (61%) expected to enjoy the same or better standard of living as their parents.

However, only 11% know that they are receiving maximum employer contributions to their workplace pension and many with old workplace pensions do not know how much is in them. 

Only 11% are contributing to a personal pension.

Research for personal finance app Moneybox - published to coincide with Pension Awareness Life this week - found that 87% were concerned about saving for their retirement and 37% "extremely so."

Of the 2,000 young adults surveyed 52% had already considered the annual income they would like to have when they retire, including 18% who said they had given it a “lot of thought.” 

The most common motivations for considering their retirement income were:

• Concern about their standard of living post-retirement (42%)
• Wanting to be able to retire comfortably as soon as possible  (40%)
• Growing concern about not being able to retire when they hope to (38%)
• The Covid pandemic making them more conscious of the need to plan for the future (33%)

While 75% of young adults surveyed said that they have already taken some steps to save and invest for their futures, only 41% said they were currently contributing to a workplace pension and only 11% to a personal pension.

Among those who have not given any thought to their target income in retirement (42%), 44% said this was because it “feels impossible” to know how much they will need,  almost a third (31%) were too scared and overwhelmed to think about it and 19% admitted that it had simply never occurred to them to do so.