Bringing retirement into focus

Retirement itself has changed.

As retirement has evolved, so too has the challenge of feeling ready for it. A generation ago, it was a relatively short chapter. Today, retirement can span 25 years or more, making it one of the longest and most significant life transitions many people will ever experience. People are navigating retirement against a more complex backdrop. Costs remain elevated. Family structures are evolving. And many clients are planning for retirement while still supporting adult children.

The adviser’s role is no longer simply helping to build a pension pot. It’s helping clients understand what that pot needs to deliver over decades and to give them the confidence that they will be okay.

Five years of tracking. Over fifteen thousand voices. One clear pattern.

Since 2021, Standard Life has tracked how retirement readiness has evolved through periods of inflation, market volatility, the introduction of auto-enrolment, and changing household pressures.

While engagement has improved, confidence has been harder to build. Just 42% of working adults say they feel confident they’re making the most of their pension, down from 46% in 2023.

People are paying more attention to retirement planning. But greater attention isn’t translating into a stronger sense that they’re on track.

Why Standard Life measures readiness differently.

To better understand that gap, Standard Life looks at retirement readiness through three connected indicators: financial, social and mindset readiness. Together, they help explain what it takes to move from saving into a retirement fund to feeling ready to live their second life well.

This framework is grounded in what people themselves have told us matters most in later life, including those approaching retirement and those already living it. As one of our research participants recently shared, “You don’t want to exist, you want to be able to live.”

Financial readiness: the “enough” question is increasingly difficult to answer.

Financial readiness remains the cornerstone of retirement planning. For many people, the biggest challenge today is knowing what “enough” actually looks like.

Only one in three (33%) of adults say they know how much they’ll need to live comfortably in retirement. Among working adults, financial readiness has fallen from 37% in 2021 to 30% in 2025.

For many, the uncertainty is practical. How much is enough? Will my money last? Am I making the right decisions? These are rational concerns, particularly when retirement may last two or three decades. But they’re also deeply personal and emotive. While the questions may be universal, the answers are not. What feels like “enough” and “right” depends entirely on the life someone wants to lead, the responsibilities they carry, and the trade-offs they’re willing to make. This highlights a key limitation in how retirement planning is often framed.

If clients don’t have an income-first picture, contributions can feel abstract, like a routine payment rather than a purposeful plan. Reassurance through advice is crucial, and importantly, financial advice doesn't stop at accumulation; clients need help connecting their savings to the life they want to live. Client conversations need to shift from contributions and projected values to an income-first plan that answers the enduring, but increasingly complex, question clients ask: “Will I be okay?”

Social readiness: a gap before and after retirement.

Social readiness captures what work quietly provides. Routine, connection, and a sense of belonging. Retirement changes all three.

In 2025, 44% of working adults say they feel socially ready for retirement, compared with 65% of retirees. That 21-point gap suggests something important. The sense of being underprepared improves once retirees settle into their second lives. Retirement planning is as much about what clients are retiring to as it is about who they will retire with. For advisers, this opens up a valuable conversation. Standard Life created the Retirement Hub for this very reason. You’ll find a range of simple tools and content that you can include in your client engagement.

Mindset readiness: from abstract idea to second life plan.

Almost half (46%) of adults see retirement as something they’ll think about “when it happens”. Meaning that, despite pension progress, retirement itself continues to be engaged with passively as a future event, not a life stage to actively shape.

This attitude prevails amongst those who take advice (44%), highlighting an opportunity to build on the financial confidence advisers create by making retirement feel more real, personal, and worth actively planning for. Behavioural science suggests that when people can more clearly picture their future selves, they tend to make better long-term decisions. *Simply put, by helping clients visualise their second life, advisers can help foster a stronger retirement mindset.

From your sense of identity and purpose to money worries, the interdependence of the three readiness indicators is highlighted within mindset readiness. For example, mindset readiness is not separate from financial readiness; it’s often built on it. And as 57% of those who feel positive about their finances look forward to retirement, compared with just 39% of those who feel anxious. This reinforces the connected approach to helping people feel retirement ready.

The measurable impact of regular advice.

As committed champions of financial advice, we ensure our research measures the value advice brings to client outcomes. Not surprisingly, we see the impact of regular advice in the data. Among those who engage regularly with advice:

• 51% know how much they’ll need to live comfortably, compared with 33% overall
• 58% feel positive about their financial position, compared with 34% overall
• 57% feel they are making the most of their pension, compared with 47% overall

And the difference isn’t just in the numbers. It shows up in how clients talk about retirement. Whether it’s the headspace that being financially on-track gives clients, or how modern client conversations are moving from “Am I saving enough?” to more outcome-led questions like “What does this give me each month?”, “How long does that income need to last?”, and “What will a normal week in retirement look like?”

Clients benefit from regular check-ins with advisers, and their planning becomes more deliberate. This is where the retirement readiness framework can help. Financial readiness addresses whether clients are on track. Social readiness explores how they'll stay connected, and mindset readiness prompts clients to engage with the second life they want their retirement plan to support. Together, they help to provide reassurance and an answer to the all-important question: Will I be okay?

Helping clients feel ready.

The findings from Bringing retirement into focus highlight why and how retirement planning needs to evolve with the reality of retirement today.

Retirement planning is no longer just building a pension pot. It’s about understanding what that pot needs to deliver, and whether it will stand up to the reality of a retirement that could last decades.

Bringing retirement into focus offers a practical way to structure that conversation, grounded in how people are approaching, and experiencing, retirement today.

Explore the research.

Bringing retirement into focus 2025 is available now. To explore the latest findings, and practical takeaways advisers can use, visit our Bringing Retirement into focus Hub, or speak with your Business Manager.

*Cambridge University, 2025. Exploring the distribution and correlates of future self-continuity in a large, nationally representative sample | Judgment and Decision Making

A version of this article is available to read in the June 2026 edition of Irish Broker Magazine.