More than half of people aged 55 to 70 turn to their pension provider’s website when making key decisions about their retirement, according to new research from Aptia.
The administration provider surveyed 500 adults aged between 55 and 70, half of whom had retired and were in receipt of a pension, and the rest of whom were considering their retirement options.
Almost a third (29%) of retired respondents used their provider’s website or app as they prepared to take their pension, while half of those approaching retirement planned to do so. More than half (60%) of those aged 55 to 59 planned to use digital resources.
Aptia’s research also found that a quarter (25%) of retirees had sought out information from social media or from other websites, including the government’s MoneyHelper and Pension Wise sites.
Sue Doughty, Aptia’s UK head of pensions administration, said: “The decisions people make at retirement can have a significant impact on their long-term financial wellbeing, and so it’s encouraging to see that people are actively seeking guidance and information as they prepare for this important stage in their life.
“Future retirees are placing greater value on digital retirement planning tools, but our research shows there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. If members can’t access the support they need, they are increasingly likely to turn to unregulated sources such as social media. That’s why trustees should review the support they provide and consider offering both a strong digital experience and access to expert guidance.”
Aptia’s research showed just 16% of people approaching retirement planned to consult a professional financial adviser.
The findings follow previous research that showed significant growth in the number of people using artificial intelligence tools such as Google’s search function to seek out pension advice.
Earlier this year, PensionBee cited data from search marketing platform Semrush, which suggested that traffic to the MoneyHelper website had fallen by 10% over six months. Over the same period, it reported a steady rise in Google’s “AI Overviews” generated from MoneyHelper’s content, indicating that savers are getting answers directly from search results rather than clicking through to source material.
Meanwhile, communications consultancy Quietroom has warned that many AI responses about specific pension schemes are misleading and often sourced from the websites of unrelated schemes.
Often, the tools struggle to interact with scheme websites and cannot access the correct information, Quietroom found, but they still generate an answer and may not inform users that they have not been able to read the correct scheme’s site. Some tools were shown to have generated incorrect responses to questions because they gathered information from other pension schemes’ websites. As all schemes are different, the generated answers were incorrect.
