Based on average contributions today, someone born in 2014 would need to have started saving in 1984 to retire at 65 with a pension income worth half the average salary (£27,000), according to a new report by Liberty Sipp.

At current annuity rates, savers need a pension pot of £250,000 to achieve an annual income of £13,500 at age 65 after taking the 25% tax-free lump sum. A person saving at the “average rate” – i.e making only the contributions required to generate the average UK pension pot size of £30,000 by age 65 – would need to save for 95 years to reach this level.

Liberty Sipp says the research shows that most people are not saving enough to ensure a comfortable retirement. For a 21-year old to build up a £250,000 pension pot and receive half the average salary when they turn 65 (after the tax-free lump sum), they would need to start contributing £1,734 per year

John Fox, Managing Director, Liberty SIPP, said: “I’m sure the pensions industry is starting to sound like a broken record, but people are saving way too little and are starting way too late. Either we do something about this or we invent a time capsule so that a baby born in 2014 can start saving into a pension in the mid Eighties, in order to get a half decent retirement in 65 years’ time.

“Such concerns are unlikely to trouble Prince George when he celebrates his first birthday next week. But his contemporaries – who are only able to save for their retirement at the average rate – are already 31 years late in starting a pension if they want to retire with a retirement income worth half the average Briton’s salary.”