Full year pre-tax profits slumped by 26% to £269.2m at investment and platform provider Hargreaves Lansdown as the company was hit by economic headwinds.

Over a quarter of younger people (28%) aged under-35 have three or more pensions, according to research by Hargreaves Lansdown which warns that some could lose track of their retirement goals.

Nearly 3 in 10 consumers (29%) say that they would avoid taking financial advice because it is too expensive.

Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown signed up 23,000 new clients in the last quarter to push up its total number of active clients to 1.677m, the firm reported today.