Investors who are thinking of delaying their retirement due to the fall in value of pension funds should tell their pension administrators to stop the automatic transfer of their money into bonds, say experts.

So-called 'lifestyling' features move pension fund investments out of equities and into fixed-interest holdings in the years before retirement, to prevent short-term stock-market falls reducing retirement income. But advisers fear that many investors may be unaware that their pensions are being automatically switched out of equities and into fixed interest and cash - potentially crystallising their equity losses, and missing out on a future recovery.