Half of UK adults have delayed an important task because it felt too overwhelming to start, according to a January 2025 Post Office survey, and 63% said they feel genuinely “weighted down” by their to-do list as a result. Writing a will was the single most commonly delayed task (25%), followed by tax returns (18%) – and among under-35s specifically, 87% said managing their pension felt overwhelming enough to put off.
Intending to act and actually acting are different things
It’s not simply a lack of willingness. A more recent PensionBee survey, from January 2026, found that 52% of people expected to make some kind of pension change during the year – but of that group, only a fifth had actually worked out a plan for doing it, and a third hadn’t taken any steps at all. A third said reviewing their pension simply wasn’t a current priority, even among people who’d said, only weeks earlier, that they intended to do exactly that. The gap isn’t really about motivation. It’s about the first step being unclear enough that “I’ll get to it” quietly becomes “I never did.”
Why financial admin specifically causes this
Decision paralysis tends to show up most where there are too many options and no obvious “right” one – exactly the position most people are in with a pension, a will, or where to hold savings. Should you consolidate old pensions or leave them where they are? Take a flexible income in retirement or buy an annuity? Set up a trust, or is a straightforward will enough? Each question branches into several more, and 30% of people told the Post Office survey that simply having too much information was itself a barrier to getting started. The result is a task that stays technically on the list indefinitely, because starting feels like it requires getting several decisions right at once rather than just one step forward.
What actually gets it moving
The tasks that stay stuck tend to have one thing in common: no clear entry point. Breaking “sort out my pension” into a specific first action – find out what you actually have, in plain terms, before deciding what to do about it – does more to get something moving than any amount of general intention. That’s usually where a financial planner adds the most value early on: not making every decision for you, but turning an open-ended, faintly dreaded task into an ordered list of smaller ones, starting with the part that’s actually blocking you.
For the longer-term decisions – how much income to draw in retirement, whether a given withdrawal rate risks running out later – a cashflow model can do a similar job by turning an abstract worry into something you can actually see and test, rather than a decision you’re making blind. And for the 43% of UK adults who told the Post Office they’d hire a personal assistant for life admin if they could, working with a financial planner on an ongoing basis is, in a fairly literal sense, exactly that – someone who keeps the list moving rather than letting it quietly grow.
Let’s find your first step
We work with clients across Poole, Bournemouth and the wider Dorset area to turn an overwhelming list of “somedays” into a plan with a clear starting point. If there’s something you’ve been putting off, get in touch and we’re happy to have a no-obligation conversation.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute financial advice, which should be based on your individual circumstances. The information is aimed at retail clients only. All information is correct at the time of writing (September 2026) and is subject to change in the future.
The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.