CONSUMER confidence in the pensions industry remains low as the Government prepares to shake up the sector, research by consumer group Which?
has found.
Just under one in five (19 per cent) people said they trust long-term financial products such as pensions and investments and nearly three in five (57 per cent) worry about the value of their pension.
Radical reforms which have been described as the most sweeping changes to pensions in a century are set to come into force next April.
They will help to ensure that people are saving into schemes which offer good value as well as giving them more freedom over what they do with their savings when they come to retire, rather than feeling forced to buy a lifetime income called an annuity.
Free, impartial guidance will also be offered alongside the changes to those approaching retirement which will aim to ensure that they know the full impact of what the reforms mean for them. This guidance will be delivered by bodies such as Citizens Advice.
The research carried out for Which? among more than 2,200 people found that fewer than one in three (28 per cent) people aged 50 to 64 are confident that they will have the money they need to live on when they retire, while just 23 per cent of people aged between 30 and 49 expressed this confidence.
Which? argued that as many people have savings beyond their pension, there should be an easy way for people to see all their retirement income, savings and investments in one place, and for the guidance sessions to take all of this into account.
I
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article