I’ll start this blog with a statement of fact, one you’ve probably read a hundred times: we’re living longer, we’ll need more money in our retirement, we won’t be able to rely on the state for support so we need to start saving as soon as possible.

None of that should come as a surprise. We’re routinely fed ‘scary’ facts such as we’ll need a £600k pension pot for a comfortable retirement.

However, according to a Scottish Widows report released this week, the number of people saving adequately for retirement has hit an all-time low, while aspirations for pension income have risen.

The study of more than 5,000 adults found fewer than half (45%) are saving enough for retirement, with one in five saving nothing at all and more than a third undersaving either ‘somewhat’ or ‘severely’.

As Scottish Widows put it, this is creating a ‘perfect storm’ for people heading into retirement.

Solving this problem will be far from easy and cultivating a savings culture in this country will require input from both Government and industry.

The Government initiative automatically enrolling people into their workplace pension – the initial stage of which was rolled out last October – is a good start. You may have seen the adverts on TV featuring Karren Brady and Theo Paphitis, among others.

The scheme will apparently take up to 10 million people into pension saving, many for the first time.

This may help foster a culture of saving in the UK. According to YourMoney.com‘s sister title, Professional Pensions, since America adopted a similar scheme in 2009, take up rates shot up to 82% in 2012 – an objective success.

When Australia introduced the initiative some 20 years ago it too increased the amount of people saving for retirement by a similar magnitude to the US, boosting savers from 40% to 80%.

There were slight differences between these schemes and the one currently being introduced in the UK. Most notably, the Australian programme was compulsory – people had to save.

By contrast here, workers are entitled to opt-out. So while it may encourage some to start putting money aside for their future, it’s unlikely to have the same impact as it did in Australia.

So, what else can be done? Well, the financial services industry can help. This ‘perfect storm’ is the ideal time for companies to introduce new and innovative ways to get people saving bearing in mind that what most consumers want are products that are transparent, easy to use and simple to understand.

A firm like Nutmeg, the UK’s first online discretionary investment management company, is a good example. It sells itself on being transparent with fees, jargon-free and straightforward to use. It will even help you set up a portfolio in under 10 minutes, according to its website.

Motif Investing is another example. The US start-up is aimed at investors who think they are good at spotting trends. Its customers can buy baskets of stocks that fit the ‘trend’ or ‘motif’ (as the firm calls it). For example, you could own stocks related to the tablet takeover or fighting obesity. It also allows investors to interact with fellow users.

While these products may not be everyone’s bag, they are a new take on the traditional world of investing, incorporating modern technology and may just get people more excited about putting money away for their golden years.