It’s ten years since People’s Partnership first published its ground breaking research, New Choices, Big Decisions, which has provided the industry and policy makers with invaluable insights about how older retirement savers have struggled with navigating Pension Freedoms, which were introduced in 2015.
Over the past decade this longitudinal study, conducted by Ignition House, has found how the sudden complexity of accessing pension savings often hinders good decision-making, leaving many retirees either missing out or, worse, facing future financial hardship. This research has previously shown how the typical saver often underestimates how long their savings will last them and has little understanding of how inflation will impact their pot.
This latest edition of New Choices, Big Decisions shows that pension providers’ efforts to bridge this gap through information and guidance are often overwhelming and ineffective. We have consistently called for a default retirement framework to help solve this issue, although it cannot be a ‘hard’ default, like auto-enrolment, not least because such a policy would be impractical.
We expect that Default Pension Benefit Solutions will become the right answer for millions of savers with straight-forward needs, especially as ‘defined contribution (DC) only’ retirement becomes the norm by mid-century.
We believe that well-designed default products, built on insights from New Choices, Big Decisions should improve the retirements of Generation DC.
We are delighted with the positive impact this unique research has had on the UK retirement debate and continue to believe in the power of evidence-based policy as driver of progress in the pensions industry.
Download the full ‘New Choices, Big Decisions : Insights from a decade of retirement journeys’ report
Complete this form to get the research straight into your inbox.
For more information about how we protect and process your personal data, read our privacy notice.