More than 80 per cent of the readers we polled said their pension had failed to deliver on its promises, and of that number more than half said it had missed its mark by a long way.
The advisers we spoke to believe that many investors are unrealistic about what they expect from their scheme – and don’t really pay attention to what they are buying until things go wrong.
David Otway, director of TWP Financial Planning, said: "Many people simply do not take ownership of their pension. They don’t know where their fund is invested, they don’t know how much there is and they think a contribution of 3 per cent is enough to fund their retirement, which it is not."
Hargreaves’ Laith Khalaf echoed this sentiment, adding: "There are big risks to those with a pension at the moment and the vast majority don’t even realise it."
Whether it is apathy on the part of investors that is to blame, or a false picture of pensions painted by those who sell them, the reality is that the argument upon which the whole industry is built is under heavy fire.
If you don’t take out a pension, this central thesis runs, you’ll spend the last 20 years of your life wearing a cheese-cloth sack, huddled up for warmth next to a 60W light bulb, wishing you could still afford a Greggs pasty and longing for death.
British people are already living with rampant inflation, frozen wages, rising unemployment and an economy that we are told may take a decade to recover, so telling them that they must save for retirement today or face financial hardship tomorrow doesn’t wash.
It is an argument based on tomorrow that simply fails to recognise the reality of today, and it is compounded by a number of fundamental criticisms, most of which revolve around the fact that your pension – despite being your money – is beyond your control.
A shifting retirement age makes it difficult for investors to forsee a time when they’ll be able to profit from their prudence.
Those towards the younger end of the scale are unable to afford a roof over their head, never mind a pension, and face a lifetime in rented accommodation with no continental-style protection of their right to make that a practical option.
Even those who have made it onto the property ladder may – if they are made redundant and are unable to find more work – end up in a situation where they’re forced out of their home, selling their biggest capital asset at a bad time, with a large chunk of money tucked away where they can’t touch it.
All these practical issues ignore the possibility that a Robert Maxwell-type will somehow walk off with your money before hopping into the Atlantic off the boat you paid for, or the AAA-rated pension provider your future depends upon will go belly-up and your retirement will go with it.
The simple truth is that the grim reality of a poverty-stricken old age seems to exist whether you take out a pension or not, if the experience of existing pensioners is any guide, and until the industry can prove otherwise, criticism such as that found in the comments section on every story we published today is unlikely to abate.