I'm looking out the window of my office, and feeling positive. The sun is shining, spring has arrived, and I'm as busy as ever.
Last week was a challenging one, mainly because I had two professional exams. "A little bit stressed" would be an understatement of how I've been feeling over the past couple of weeks, as all my focus has been on ensuring these exams are passed first time...now I can relax, enjoy the weather, and wait tentatively for the results. My wife's glad they are over, as I tend to be a bit tetchy when exam season arrives!!
The second leaders debates were interesting to watch, especially for a currently undecided voter, but the area that interested me the most was when the subject came round to pensions.
Gordon Brown wins the award for best caveman impression, "Woman, and you are one of them"...however, that aside, he made a brief mention of NEST (the new name for Personal Accounts)....if you're not sure what this is, take a look at this :-
Personal Accounts Delivery Authority
Now, I appreciate NEST is a political hot potato. Which Party wants to tell every employer and employee in the Uk that they will be effectively obliged to contribute to a retirement plan ( or opt out on a regular basis ) within the next few years. However, the introduction of this scheme can only be positive.
Most people know they should save more for their retirement. They also understand that national insurance contributions currently go towards paying for pensioners today, as opposed to building a pot for their future. David Cameron during last weeks debate mentioned that he intends to increase the State Retirement Age to 66, however there is a good bet that it will continue to increase as time goes on regardless of which political party ( or any combination of the main three parties ) is in charge.
However for many people, taking responsibility for their retirement is too easy to ignore. Not only will the introduction of NEST bring the importance of saving for retirement back into focus, it will potentially motivate millions of people to make some form of provision for their future (either through NEST or independently). This has to be a positive step forward.
I'm a great believer in the Carrot as opposed to the Stick when motivating individuals to take action ( and NEST does feel like a particularly dirty stick ). However, I do believe that it could help individuals invest for their retirement, or as Gordon Brown might put it "Woman or Man, and all of you are one of them, must save for old age"
Chris Daems,
Principal Financial Solutions
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