In 2008 only 33% of people believed their property would be a top contributor to their final retirement savings, compared to 43% in 2007. While property was the top contributor in 2007, it moved down to second place this year.

Taking over from property, as the main pension provider, is the company pension which has seen an increased interest of 4% in 2008.

However the biggest climber in retirement savings is the personal pension, which continues to be increasingly relied upon, steadily growing from 26 %in 2006, to 28% in 2007 and now reaching 31% in 2008.

“While property prices have been growing rapidly over recent years, the onset of the credit crunch has had noticeable effects on the housing market,” comments Steve Latto, Pensions Development Manager at Alliance Trust.

“This no doubt has led to many people re-assessing their pension provisions.”

According to Latto the past year has emphasised how important it is to carefully plan for retirement.

“People often don’t appreciate there are many different ways to save for their retirement and they should be prepared to re-assess their investments as circumstances change,” adds Latto.

“ISAs, for instance, can be a good way to start, and can be transferred into a pension fund later in life.”

“The most important thing is to investigate the best way to start saving as early as possible and pay attention to your spread of investments so as to help build a pension pot when it comes to retirement age.”