One in five people, the equivalent of around 10.4 million UK adults, aged between 18 and 80 are ‘too busy’ to plan for their financial future, according to the findings of the Standard Life Retirement Voice report.
While more than half (52%) of those who worry they are not saving enough cite the cost of living as the main reason, 20% also cite the busy demands of everyday life as a barrier to saving for retirement. Of that group, 60% cited their job or work, while 49% said family or household responsibilities were key reasons behind their inability to plan and 44% quoted managing day-to-day finances.
This was more keenly felt among women; 55% of women who say they are too busy mention household and family responsibilities, compared with 44% of men and almost half (48%) of women say managing day-to-day finances leaves them too busy to plan for retirement, versus 40% of men.
Amongst parents with children under 18 who say they are too busy to plan for their future finances, ‘looking after children’ was named the biggest competing demand, cited by two thirds (66%) of parents. This trend is also reflected in retirement planning, with 43% of women with children under 18 saying they have done no planning around how much they will need in retirement, compared with 22% of men with children under 18.
Standard Life said its findings show immediate financial demands are taking priority over longer-term planning. Managing day-to-day finances tops the list of people’s financial priorities (42%), while just 12% say pension saving is their main financial priority, down from 15% in 2025.
The findings also uncovered a number of other demands competing for people’s attention, with 38% of respondents who are too busy to plan citing the need to focus on their health and wellbeing, while 22% mention their social life.
These demands are particularly pronounced among Gen Z, with a third (34%) of this generation stating they are too busy to plan for their future finances compared with 20% overall.
Despite people juggling lots of competing priorities, Standard Life said people have not lost sight of the importance of retirement saving. Almost two thirds (63%) of those who are not yet retired worry they are not saving enough for when they are older, rising to 71% among millennials.
Catherine Foot, director of the Standard Life Centre for the Future of Retirement, said: “Financial pressures are clearly a major part of the challenge people face when preparing for later life, but these findings show that money is not the only constraint. Work, caring responsibilities, family life and the demands of managing finances today are all competing for the time and headspace people need to think about tomorrow.
“That is particularly visible among parents, many of whom are balancing work and household finances with the day-to-day demands of looking after children.
“This matters because concern about retirement saving remains high. The important thing is not to let being busy become a permanent barrier to planning. As people live longer and responsibility for retirement outcomes increasingly sits with individuals, we need to think not only about whether people have enough money to save, but how easy we make it for them to plan and engage with their long-term finances.”
Foot said policymakers, employers and the financial services industry all have a role to play in reducing that burden, helping people build financial resilience today while making long-term saving and retirement planning as simple and accessible as possible.
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