Article by Phil
How are people feeling about retirement and their pension plans? Not great according to the latest survey of over 40’s by My Pension Expert (December 2021). The survey asked a range of questions and here are the results:
- Over half are concerned that the government will cut pension benefits in the next 12 months – that reflects a serious lack of trust.
- Almost 90% had “no confidence” in the government’s pension policy.
- Over half opposed the scrapping of the triple lock, and
- 40% said that the scrapping of the triple lock would directly affect their retirement income.
- 10% said that the freeze on the Lifetime allowance at just over £1 million would directly affect their finances!
So, what can the government do to restore confidence? According to the survey:
- Over 60% think that the system should be simplified.
- Over a third think that the increase in pension freedom age to 58 should be scrapped and it should be kept at 55.
- 50% would like to see easier access to financial advice, although only 11% had used an adviser in the past.
Clearly the government has a lot to do to restore confidence with nearly 9 out of 10 having no confidence.
Let’s see if anything happens.
The pandemic has added to the countries pension woes as well. Latest research from Now Pensions shows that 300,000 more people have now entered “pension poverty” because they are no longer able to contribute into personal pension scheme. That takes the number to 2.8 million people who have less than 15% of the average pension savings. That is a real issue.
Over 50% of these are women.
Now Pensions are recommending that the government scraps its £10,000 minimum salary trigger for autoenrollment in order to help the part time a low paid pay for their pension provision. This makes sense especially when you look at the stark difference between these people caught in the private sector against their public sector colleagues.
Remember we’re here to help you with any Pension Advice you might need.
