The Distributor
PR guru, Ursula Delaney, examines why pensions aren’t the talk of the town and what we can do to change that. Here’s the Distributor’s point of view.
By Ursula Delaney on Friday, 4 November 2022
We Need to Talk About Pensions
When it comes to pensions, the truth is out there. From big bang campaigns to tailored fact sheets and content hubs, the Government and FS industry invests millions in cracking the problem of pensions awareness. Yet, at a time when only 20% of us are confident we’re saving enough for retirement, the message appears to be falling on deaf ears.
So what gives? It’s in all our interests to put aside enough money for the future so why can’t we connect with our pensions? Well, listen in on any party or social gathering and you’ll get a clue. It’s not that talking about money is taboo anymore: Crypto Kings and Queens hold court, supersavers share ways to live for less, and the rise and fall of house prices and issues getting on the property ladder are hot topics for conversation. Pension saving is not. It’s just too boring, too complex or too inaccessible to get the airtime it deserves.
If we are to have any chance of improving pensions under-saving or tracking down lost pension pots, we’ve got to make pensions more talkable. Or more specifically, we need to rewrite the pensions narrative to create a compelling and accessible vision for later life that we can buy into today.
It will take quite a reset. The old saying “bad news sells papers!” still largely holds true in UK media where stats and scare stories on pensions dominate, despite the pressure for more thumb stopping, shareable content. But fear isn’t the best salesman when it comes to changing our long-term financial habits… especially at a time of hardship where there are plenty of more immediate concerns to keep us occupied.
If we want to raise our voice on pensions, we need to take a more persuasive approach. First, inspirational storytelling to help us visualise the later life we want from our 20s onwards. Then tools, games and emotional personal stories that help us set bitesize goals and enjoy the journey to achieving them. Once that's done, pensions will have really entered the conversation.
Head back to our main page and dive deeper into how we can shake up pensions together.
