PEOPLE need to have started basic financial planning by the time they are 26 or they could spend the rest of their lives catching up, according to independent financial advisers.

There are three pillars to financial planning - saving for retirement, getting on to the property ladder and saving for the future - and these should all have been started before you hit 30.

In fact, financial advisers questioned by insurer Prudential claimed people should have started saving into a pension by the time they are 22, have bought their first home by 25 and started saving money regularly by the age of 26.

But in reality most people are much older before they begin putting these three pillars in place, with the average age of a first-time buyer currently 34, while women are about 29 and men are 31 when they get married, which is often a trigger for people to sort out their finances.

Just under half of people questioned by the insurer said they wished they had reviewed their finances earlier, with 25 to 34-year-olds feeling this more than any other age group.