Many parents fear they won’t have enough retirement funds.
Extract from the Irish Daily Mail
Most parents have pensions in place but less than one in three are saving for retirement on a regular basis, according to a new survey of parents. The ParentsandBrands [https://www.parentsandbrands.com/] survey also shows many parents are confused about their pensions.
And many are concerned about whether or not their work pensions will be enough for them come retirement, with some wondering if they need to top up that pension or start another one.
The survey was carried out by ParentsandBrands ahead of Pensions Awareness Week, and is based on responses from 780 parents across Ireland.
Findings from the ParentsandBrands survey show that the majority of parents (88%) have some pension arrangement in place. However, less than a third (32%) save for retirement on a regular basis.
Less than half of parents review their pension arrangements on an annual basis, with 13% saying they have never reviewed them.
Many parents also admit to not understanding how pensions work and are unsure what happens to their contributions if they take a career break or paternal leave.
The area of pensions was described by parents as “time consuming and difficult to organise,” “confusing,” and “very difficult to understand”.
When it comes to money in general, after setting a good financial example for their children, parents are then most concerned with how they will know that their pension will be enough for them come retirement.
Jill Holtz, co-founder of ParentsandBrands, said:
“When we asked parents about their pension, many said they found the whole area really confusing. There’s a lot of ‘Starting your pension’ or ‘Nearing retirement’ type of information available, but not so much for this middle segment of people with kids, who may be taking a career break, or for those who don’t know how much to save for a comfortable retirement.
“They regularly make decisions about their day-to-day family finances, but long-term options aren’t being discussed that much. That’s why we teamed up with Moneycube to deliver a parent-specific session on September 20 at 3.30pm as part of Pensions Awareness Week.
“There’s an opportunity for the pensions industry to really help this segment by understanding more about what parents need and want, and to ultimately help them make good decisions for pensions.”
Ralph Benson, Co-founder and head of financial advice at Moneycube.ie [www.Moneycube.ie] commented:
“Like parenting itself, a pension is a lifetime undertaking which can cause confusion and worry, as ParentsandBrands have shown. But the rewards can also be huge – and the more you put in, the more you get out. With several discussions — such as ‘Pensions for Parents’ and ‘What happens your pension when you go on maternity leave?’ — we are striving to get parents in Ireland the answers they need to take charge of their long-term finances.”
