If they waited just one more year without saving, the amount they would have to put aside a month would jump to £887, the study by financial advisory firm, deVere Group, found.

The calculations are based on the UK’s average salary of £26,500, the assumption of retiring at the default retirement age with a pension income of 75% of their pre-retirement earnings – which is generally what the pension industry recommends – no current savings, annual inflation of 3%, pre-retirement investment returns of 5%, and post-retirement investment returns of a more conservative 3%.

Nigel Green, deVere Group’s chief executive, said: “These figures are particularly alarming as latest official figures reveal that contributions to private pensions have recently hit a 60 year low. And even those who are paying in are not contributing nearly enough.

“Additionally, it must also be remembered, of course, that if the average 30 year old should be putting aside £824 a month for their retirement, a 40 or 50 year old, for example, under the same conditions, would to need save significantly more than this in order to reach the same outcome.

“Failure to save for your mature years whilst you’re earning will probably mean that you’ll need to work into your 70s, or that you’ll have to considerably compromise your lifestyle when you retire – neither option is particularly appealing for most people.”

This comes after a report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that people born after the mid-1980s will suffer the most from proposed changes to the state pension.

According to the IFS, young workers could get thousands of pounds less a year from the state if plans to introduce a single-tier state pension from 2016 are implemented.

The report advised that it is never too early to start saving for retirement – the younger a worker starts, the easier it should be to reach their financial objectives.

Green added: “Many younger individuals delay starting a pension plan as they presume they will earn more money later in their careers and will then find it easier to fund a pension.

“Whilst generally peoples’ incomes will rise as they progress in their careers, it is our experience that as a percentage of their salary, younger professionals do have more disposable income as they are less likely to have the expenses of raising children and purchasing and maintaining larger family homes, that most will have later.

“And whilst disposable incomes generally rise in the later part of an individual’s career, by then it may be too late to adequately fund a pension scheme that will provide them with sufficient income to sustain their pre-retirement lifestyle.”