Thirty per cent of UK adults say they lack the knowledge, confidence and time to invest their savings, Rathbones has found.

The wealth and asset management firm’s latest survey of 3,092 adults highlighted what it described as a "widespread confidence gap".

The research found that confidence is lowest among working-age adults, especially those aged 30 to 44 (35%), before falling to 24% among those aged 65 to 80.

Rathbones said that although UK adults may be put off investing and simply save surplus income instead due to lack of time, knowledge or inclination, this can carry a cost and reduce their longer-term wealth as a consequence.

The firm said its findings come weeks ahead of a Government-backed, nationwide retail investment campaign, aimed at raising awareness of the importance of investment for individuals’ long-term financial wellbeing and its wider value to the UK economy.

This aligns with Rathbones’ own vision, which is to help more people invest well so they can live well through demystifying investment and providing the support and guidance many people want and need.

Senior investment director at Rathbones, Jane Sydenham, said: "As the government looks to encourage more people to engage with investing, these findings highlight a critical issue - encouraging people to invest only works if they feel confident and willing to make investment decisions.

"Managing investments today involves an understanding of investment risk, tax, long-term planning and competing priorities, which helps explain why uncertainty remains common even among high earning and high wealth groups, and is particularly acute for those balancing busy working lives or dealing with sudden wealth."

Rathbones added that while confidence improves for some mid-wealth groups, concerns increase for the wealthiest respondents.

Thirty per cent of those with over £1m in net assets say they don’t feel confident managing their investment independently, highlighting how financial complexity often increases alongside wealth.

Fund manager for the Rathbone Multi-Asset fund, Will Mcintosh-Whyte, concluded: "Investing early in your life allows savers to take advantage of the power of compounding – so the fact that the highest percentage of those lacking the knowhow to invest is in younger age brackets is a bit of a concern and could be a headwind to those participants achieving their longer-term financial objectives.

"Investing – carefully risking money to grow it – has fallen out of favour in the UK. Too many of us sit on cash rather than invest in stocks and bonds, which have been proven to deliver better results over the long term. With the UK incredibly underinvested, this means millions are missing out on returns that could leave them better off and better prepared for retirement."

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