Traditional messages around not saving enough for retirement are not working, and the industry needs to find new ways to engage people, according to Cushon head of workplace savings Danny Meehan.
Meehan said: ”Technology is definitely a big part of that- tech definitely opens doors that were available to us not long ago. Let’s make it easy for people to engage, and let’s reduce friction. Everyone’s got a phone, smartphone, and most people consume internet content that way, so let’s make it easy for people to engage.
Meehan added: “We’ve got a 15 per cent allocation to private markets, which opens up some really interesting engagement opportunities. Not only do private markets give exceptional risk-adjusted returns, but there are engagement stories that you can build off the back of it. Renewable energy, micro-finance, loans to women sewing collectives in sub-Saharan Africa, green tech, carbon capture, green hydrogen- there is scope there to tell some quite incredible stories.”
Standard Life head of workplace proposition deployment Donna Walsh said: “There’s been a massive shift to financial wellness. It’s not just about the pension anymore; it’s about making sure that we understand people and help them with what’s important to them today. I think everyone has a different definition of financial wellness. We define it as helping people empower them to make financial decisions and help them feel secure, confident, and in control to make financial decisions across all life stages.
“You’ve got to understand them and understand what motivates them and how factors such as age, education, cultural backdrop motivate and influences how they think and feel about life savings, ageing and retirement. I think you’ll see a lot more innovation in the market around the financial wellness piece around what you can do to help people today.”
Tumelo CEO Georgia Stewart shared the company’s perspective and said: “Tumelo helps people engage with their pension by asking them their opinions on ESG issues about the companies that they’re invested in.
“You can look to different issues to engage different demographics as well. We have voted on CEO pay and votes on deforestation and human rights- different types of people are going to engage in different issues, and we do see that on the platform.”
According to Stewart, there is more engagement now than before the pandemic. Stewart said: “We’ve seen a 34 per cent increase in people using the dashboard this year, a 59 per cent increase in people using the app.
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