From the blog: So, only around one in eight over-40s plans to cash in more than half of their pension pot.
This will come as a relief to those who feared a £5bn-£6bn rout from pension pots in the months following the reforms.
However, as George Osborne announced on Tuesday £1bn has gone out the door so far, spread across 60,000 people.
But is this lower figure a result of savers' financial savvy, or a symptom of the wider problems of providers being slow to release members' cash?
At least that's the verdict from a survey of around 3,400 individuals published this week by insurer and annuity provider Partnership.
This will come as a relief to many across the industry, who feared there would be a £5bn-£6bn rout from pension pots in the months following the reforms, as savers rushed to blow their cash on buy-to-let properties and Italian sports cars.
Though in fact, as George Osborne announced on Tuesday, only £1bn has gone out the door so far, spread across 60,000 people.
Prudence or problems?
But is this lower figure a result of savers' financial savvy or a symptom of the wider problems being seen in the market in terms of providers being slow to release members' cash, as some in the industry have said?
The Partnership study suggests there may be a bit more to it than that.
While nearly half (45 per cent) of the respondents aged 16-75 were in favour of the freedom, more than half were more cautious.
One in three (34 per cent) said state support should be curbed for those who blow all their cash, and nearly a fifth (18 per cent) said access at age 55 should only be granted for those who have retired or have medical conditions.
And among respondents aged over 40, the average proportion of their pot they intend to take as cash is a mere 2 percentage points over the tax-free lump sum (27 per cent).
Source: Partnership. *People were given the option to choose that they did not have a pension pot they could access in this manner so these figures represent those that can access their pots.
How long will you live?
This caution may be just as well, as recent data released by the Office for National Statistics showed people aged 55 today will live to their mid-to-late eighties. And as the graphic below shows, a 35-year-old female today is expected to live to 90, with a one in four chance of reaching 100.
Source: ONS Digital
(If you're curious about how long you might need to make your pension last, have a go on the ONS's handy life expectancy calculator.)
So while people are broadly in favour of the pension freedom, the data so far seem to demonstrate they are still fairly prudent – which is essential to make those pots go further in the face of growing life expectancies.
¹Bad news for 35-year-old females: the original version of this article incorrectly stated their life expectancy is 95 – it is in fact 90. The article has been updated.
