Each year Standard Life surveys adults across Ireland to understand how people are thinking about retirement, how ready they feel for it, and what is shaping both. The 2025 edition, Bringing Retirement into Focus, draws on a sample of 5,404 adults spanning four generations and four regions. The quantitative work covers 5,356 adults aged 18 and over across four waves of fieldwork, conducted by 3Gem Research, alongside qualitative focus groups run by Red C Research with people approaching retirement and those already living it.
This year the research is structured around three indicators rather than a single measure of preparedness. Financial readiness covers knowing what you have, what you need, and how your income will support the life you want. Social readiness covers belonging, relationships and support. Mindset readiness covers purpose, identity and interests beyond work. Reading the three together gives a far more accurate picture of Munster than any single figure, because the region performs very differently on each.
At Riordan Financial we work with clients across Munster every week, so we have focused this article on what the 2025 findings say about our own region.
Munster is among the least financially ready regions in Ireland
In 2025, 28% of adults in Munster said they felt financially ready for retirement. That places Munster joint lowest of the four regions alongside the rest of Leinster, behind Connacht and parts of Ulster at 31% and Dublin at 34%. Dublin also records the lowest level of unpreparedness, at 37%.
Standard Life describes Munster as a region under increasing pressure rather than one lacking long-term intent. Financial readiness has slipped slightly over time, but retirement planning has stayed in view even as more immediate financial demands have taken priority. The cost-of-living figure makes that plain. In Munster, 47% of adults cite coping with the rising cost of living as a top financial priority. That is the highest of any region in the country, and a sharp increase from 29% in 2024.
At the same time, pension focus has edged forward rather than collapsed. The share of Munster adults prioritising maximising their pension has risen from 13% in 2023 to 15% in 2024 and 16% in 2025. The intent is holding. Capacity is what has come under strain.
The national backdrop is consistent with this. Across Ireland, financial readiness among working adults has fallen from 37% in 2021 to 30% in 2025, and just 33% of adults say they know how much they will need to live comfortably in retirement. Around two in five adults are concerned they will not be able to retire at all.
Social readiness in Munster has fallen from a position of strength
Munster has historically been one of the strongest regions in Ireland for social readiness, reflecting community and social connections that exist independently of work. Between 2021 and 2023, around one in two adults in the region reported feeling confident about their social readiness for retirement.
That has changed. In 2024, 42% of adults in Munster said they felt socially ready. In 2025 the figure was 41%, the lowest of the four regions. Dublin now sits at 48%, Connacht and parts of Ulster at 47%, and the rest of Leinster at 42%.
The important detail is what sits behind that decline. Standard Life is clear that the historic advantage held by regional areas has narrowed not because urban readiness has improved, but because confidence has softened in the places that previously felt most secure. Qualitative feedback suggests this reflects a growing awareness of the effort required to sustain social connections once work ends, rather than a weakening of those connections themselves. Participants described active social lives while recognising that engagement after retirement would need to be far more deliberate. Social readiness in Munster is not declining so much as becoming more realistic.
Nationally, the pattern reinforces the point. Social readiness sits at 44% among working adults and 65% among retirees, a 21 point gap. Uncertainty peaks before retirement and confidence tends to strengthen once the transition is actually made.
Mindset readiness is where Munster holds up best
Mindset readiness in Munster stands at 51%, in line with the national average and only modestly behind Connacht and parts of Ulster at 53% and Dublin at 52%. The rest of Leinster sits at 49%.
On outlook, 41% of adults in Munster say they are looking forward to retirement, against 44% in Dublin, 43% in Connacht and parts of Ulster, and 40% in the rest of Leinster. The gap that once separated Dublin from the rest of the country has largely closed. On whether the idea of retirement feels unappealing, Munster sits at 31%, level with Connacht and parts of Ulster and with Dublin, and just below the rest of Leinster at 32%.
Nationally, 42% of adults say they look forward to retirement and 31% describe the idea as unappealing. Both figures have been broadly stable for three years. Retirement has not lost its appeal, but neither has it gained conviction.
The link between money and mindset
The clearest divide in the 2025 research is not by gender, generation or geography. It is by financial confidence. Almost six in ten adults who felt positive about their financial position, 57%, said they were looking forward to retirement. Among those who felt anxious about money, the figure was 39%.
That matters for Munster specifically. The region carries the highest cost-of-living pressure in the country alongside one of the lowest financial readiness scores. Under the report own framework, that combination is what suppresses readiness across the other two measures over time, because financial strain consumes the mental bandwidth that longer-term planning requires. When people feel financially overwhelmed, long-term decisions get deferred rather than rejected.
Where advice makes the measurable difference
The most actionable finding in the 2025 report concerns ongoing advice rather than one-off decisions. Across the clearest markers of financial readiness, the gap between all adults and those who engage with an adviser regularly is substantial.
Confident they are making the most of their pension: 47% of all adults, rising to 57% among those regularly advised.
Taking full advantage of tax relief on contributions: 43% of all adults, rising to 56%.
Clear on how much they will need in retirement: 33% of all adults, rising to 51%.
Feeling positive about their current financial position: 34% of all adults, rising to 58%.
Those receiving regular advice are also more likely to feel positive about their financial position overall, at 41% compared with 32% among those who are unadvised. Standard Life summarise the effect as roughly doubling the likelihood of feeling positive about your finances and confident in your pension.
For a region carrying the cost pressures Munster is carrying, that is the practical point. Regular advice does not remove the pressure, but it restores the clarity and headspace that make planning feel manageable rather than abstract.
What this means if you are planning your retirement in Munster
The 2025 findings point to three things worth acting on. First, know your number. Only a third of adults in Ireland can say what they will need to live comfortably, and that uncertainty is the single biggest barrier to feeling financially ready. On average, respondents estimated €2,009 per month after tax to cover essentials, and €2,958 to cover essentials plus discretionary spending.
Second, plan for a longer retirement than you may be assuming. Life expectancy at 65 in Ireland is now 18.3 years for men and 21 years for women according to the latest CSO Life data, which makes a 25 year retirement the realistic planning horizon.
Third, treat retirement planning as an ongoing review rather than a single decision. The research is consistent that regular engagement, not one-off consultation, is what shifts confidence.
If you would like to review your existing pension arrangements, or you are starting to think about retirement saving for the first time, Riordan Financial is here to help. Contact us today to discuss how we can support you in building a clearer picture of your own retirement.
Riordan Financial Brokers Ltd trading as Riordan Financial (C30375) is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.