Following the ONS report on employee workplace pensions published this morning, experts from EQ Financial Planning and The Orchard Practice share their views with IFA Magazine:
Adrian Kidd, chartered wealth manager at Aylesbury-based EQ Financial Planning: “While this report may appear like good news, the numbers that really matter are what people are contributing. I suspect, and fear, that rates of contribution are nowhere near what they need to be and that any plans to uplift contributions among employees will be shelved to pay for higher living costs elsewhere. The current level of inflation poses a real threat to people’s desire to contribute more to their pensions.”
Joshua Gerstler, chartered financial planner at Borehamwood-based The Orchard Practice: “Most of the UK population will be unable to enjoy their retirement on the state pension alone, so it is great to see people taking ownership of their retirement by participating in workplace pensions and personal pensions. The next challenge is to get people to realise how important it is to contribute in excess of the statutory minimum contributions. The pensions time bomb is ticking and the statutory minimum contributions are not enough to defuse it.”
