Research from Profile Pensions finds which industry’s employers offer the highest level of contributions – that is, how much they pay into pensions as a percentage of salary, including how that differs by gender.

No Tension Pensions

With a target pot of £38,000 to live modestly in retirement, and £247,000 to live comfortably, retirement planning is a crucial financial consideration across all industries. These sectors, however, offer the best pension planning with high contributions from employers:

• Financial and insurance work – With employer contributions of an average of 9.5%, finance is the best industry for getting support – and with an average salary of £30,403, it’s one of the best-paying options around. With 54,446 jobs on the market in the UK, there are a lot of opportunities going around.

• Education – Teachers are among those with the best pension options, with average contributions of 9.3%. The average salary of £22,146 means those contributions reach an average of £2,053.60 annually. Teachers are also in high demand, with 102,805 job openings available.

• Electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply – Significantly lower than the prior two industries with average contributions of only 7.1%, this industry’s £23,943 average salary only results in contributions of £1,703 – though this is still among the top options.

At the other end of the scale, however, agriculture, forestry and fishing jobs offered the minimum legal contribution, 2%, when the ONS statistics were last published in 2018 prior to the April 2019 rise.  While it’s scarcely more in accommodation and food services, at 2.1%. The third worst is the arts, where it reaches only as high as 2.5% on average.

The Gender Gap

While overall there was a slightly higher contribution rate for men than women – at 4.6% compared with 4.4% - in individual industries the range varies significantly.

The average difference in industries was marginally in favour of women, though only by 0.1%. Education, in particular, favoured women, with an average employer contribution of 9.3%, while men received only 7.9%.

In technical areas, however, men saw higher contributions. In electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply, for example, they saw 3.3% higher contributions, at 7.4% compared with 4.2%, and in manufacturing, there was a difference of 0.9% (5.3% to 4.4%).

Michelle Gribbin, Profile Pensions’ Chief Investment Officer, said: “The difference between industries is remarkable. While some you might expect, like financial and insurance industries, the high pensions in education mean teachers are likely to be better off in retirement than those in typically high-earning careers like real estate or logistics. Providing an interesting consideration for both employers and employees.”

“As for the gender differences uncovered, this is just another example of the gap between genders in the workplace, this time played out through pension contributions. 

Generally, we know women are more likely to have lower incomes and more interrupted careers as a result of their caring responsibilities. Ensuring this doesn't penalise them is as much of an organisational culture issue as it is a government policy issue. 

Firms should really start to get to grips with the fundamentals and fully adopt a policy of 'equal pay and pension contributions for equal roles', applied to both full time and part time workers. As a further step, firms regularly reporting on gender disparities in income and pension contributions really helps ensure good transparency and commitment on this issue.”

Life expectancy may have stuttered over the past two years, sitting at an average of 85 for people over 65, but as populations continue to grow and live for longer than ever, it has never been more important to make correct and informed choices about how our assets will last the course.

Here, Tony Duckworth, MD and Chartered Financial Planner at Cowens Financial Architects, discusses how we can safeguard our precious pension pots through sound financial planning.

It’s no secret that state pensions aren’t enough to cover most people’s plans for their leisurely retirement years. The push on the need for private savings from the government and the introduction of the compulsory work-place pension in light of these ever-increasing age stats have further heightened the pressure on working people to get their finances in order. The good news is, it’s never too late to start putting the wheels in motion to build a portfolio of assets designed to meet your future financial needs, while also ensuring loved ones are protected should the worst happen.

The introduction of Pension Freedom in April 2015 means that anyone over the age of 55 can now withdraw their hard-earned private pot as a lump sum, paying no tax on the first 25%. This move, although liberating for many soon-to-be retirees, has opened a labyrinth of options and potentially wrong decisions.

Recent research from the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has found that around 100,000 over 55s withdraw money from their pensions every year without seeking financial advice[1], something the organisation is campaigning hard to change. It’s difficult to imagine that this many people have got to this point without any sound advice.

Recent research from the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) has found that around 100,000 over 55s withdraw money from their pensions every year without seeking financial advice.

Having a comprehensive financial plan with a clear strategy to deliver to your retirement needs is key to understanding the best way to maximise your pension freedom. A Ferrari may seem a fantastic idea within the first week of your new-found retired lifestyle, but in many cases, your pension pot will have to last for almost as many years as it took to save it and a purchase like this may put too much strain on your pot to meet your needs for the remainder of your lifetime.

Care must also be taken when looking at annuities, although well-advertised as a sensible alternative to withdrawing lump sums of your pension, exchanging your pension pot for a monthly income is irreversible, holds little flexibility and gives little scope to pass on benefits to future generations. With no chance of growth, an annuity won’t earn you any interest and restricts your ability to invest for the future. In fact, since pension freedom was introduced, sales of annuities have tumbled by 80% according to the ABI[2] (Association of British Insurers).

The easiest way to protect your funds and cut through the confusion is to seek expert financial advice – it’s the best way to understand when you can retire with confidence, while also ensuring your assets are structured suitably and invested in a risk-managed strategy designed to maximise potential returns. An adviser will spend time discussing what is important to you in life, your goals and aspirations for the future, and learn about the important things you want to plan for. Creating a clear vision for your retirement is the most solid route to understanding what is possible with the money you’ve saved.

Seeking expert help both throughout our working lives and as we hit retirement age is a sure way to take the dreaded stress and worry off our shoulders when we hit our 60s.

There is hope when it comes to the increasing retirement age – a financial adviser may be able to plug the gap between when you want to retire and when your state pension kicks in, structuring your assets and income to minimise tax payments and help your money go further. In the best case, retirement may be closer than you imagined!

When planning for our futures, ‘what ifs’ still need to be taken seriously and a rainy-day fund is essential. With the NHS in the UK in turmoil and people living way into their 80s and 90s – the cost of private health care, medication, and elderly long-term care must be accounted for within a financial plan.

In 2017/18, Paying For Care found that the average cost of a residential care home in the UK was £32,344 a year, rising to over £44,512 a year when nursing care was included[3]. Just one hour of daily care can total up to £6,700 per year in some parts of the country. State funding rules are constantly changing – currently, if your assets come to a total of £23,250 or more by the time you or your partner need this type of care, you will be expected to cover all care costs yourself, which could leave you short if the right measures aren’t in place. A financial expert can help with things such as equity release, payment schemes, and insurance policies to guarantee your cash flow and take some of the burden if care was needed.

Although financial planning and retirement planning are essentially two separate entities, they must go hand in hand in order to provide the lifestyle you want. Getting down into the granular detail of your finances as you approach retirement is the best way to assess what actions are needed to maximise your assets to last. Seeking expert help both throughout our working lives and as we hit retirement age is a sure way to take the dreaded stress and worry off our shoulders when we hit our 60s.

As we strive to save, invest and grow our assets over the course of our working lives, the transition to withdrawing and living off those funds may seem a terrifying concept. But through solid advice and good decision making, you can guarantee financial freedom throughout your golden years.

About Cowens Financial Architects

Cowens Financial Architects is a trading name of R A Cowen and Partners Financial Services Ltd, part of Cowens Group. The team delivers a range of financial planning services, focused on helping people to make the right financial decisions, including financial planning, investment advice, retirement planning, and inheritance tax planning.

 In addition to the financial planning provided by Cowens Financial Architects, the business also provides corporate financial planning through its brand, Cowens Employee Benefits Ltd.

R A Cowen & Partners Financial Services Ltd. Registered office: Inbro House, Commercial Gate, Mansfield NG18 1EU. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

[1] https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2019/01/new-rules-to-make-pensions-clearer/

[2] https://www.iress.com/uk/resources/insight-research/retirement-report-retirement-income-and-annuity-perspectives/

[3] https://www.payingforcare.org/how-much-does-care-cost/

Pensions are a crucial part of life but a dreaded concept for many millennials. However, saving for a pension may not be as complicated or as demanding as you think. Here, Paul Farrugia, Partner and Chartered Financial Planner at Equilibrium Asset Management, explains how easy it can be to start saving into a pension today.

To hear about defined benefit transfers and pensions in the UK, Finance Monthly connected with Chartered Financial Planner and Chartered Wealth Manager Pierre Coussey. With over 30 years of experience in financial services both within the largest providers in the UK and at the coal face within private practice, Pierre is also the current Chairman of the Personal Finance Society (Kent region) and is a past Examination panel member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment (CISI).

What are the typical challenges that clients approach you and Bond Wealth with in relation to transferring their defined benefit pension?

Pension freedoms, which came into effect in the UK back in 2015, introduced the ability for those with defined contribution pension arrangements to access their pensions without the need to buy annuities and also pass their pension funds onto family. The biggest headline was probably giving them a choice to buy a Lamborghini if they choose to do so. This did not cater for the 5.1 million people in the UK who held old benefits in an ex-employer or closed defined benefit scheme (pensions that promised an income for life). One of the things we have seen is a massive demand for pension transfer advice and this is partly being driven by some of these factors, together with historically very high transfer values in terms of multiples of deferred pension promise (with 30 to 40 times being quite common).

The complexities of what is best for a client are amongst the most challenging and are often not fully understood by potential clients. Our general view is that for the majority of people, sticking with the defined benefits will be correct unless they can fully take into account wider factors and understand them. Thus, a starting question would be “why would they want to give up a guaranteed pension for life?”.

What would you change about defined pension schemes, if you could?

As a pension pot needs to meet a number of needs, it is frustrating that in the main partial transfers from the existing defined benefit schemes are not facilitated. If I could have a panacea, this would be available to all, so that a mixed approach could be customised specific to a client’s actual needs rather that the current all-or-nothing transfer choice. Unfortunately, I do not see this changing as existing schemes have no appetite to spend on this flexibility for past members and are inundated with transfer value requests.

What is your overall piece of advice for Finance Monthly’s readers in regards to defined benefit schemes?

My overall  piece of advice regarding defined benefit schemes is to start with the assumption that your existing pension arrangement will be best in providing for you and your family and then write down your three main reasons for considering or wishing to transfer and the three main drivers in your retirement planning. The bigger the lifestyle cost this needs to support, the bigger the value and risk transference you are putting into your own lifestyle bucket.

Additionally, talk to an experienced regulated adviser who can initially help you explore your real lifestyle needs. This should be followed by further working with them to explore your actual retirement needs that will fit with your lifestyle in the future. Ultimately, if they can save you from potential mistakes at either of these stages, the cost of good advice will be small compared to what would be at risk of getting it wrong. If you transfer out of a defined benefit scheme, you cannot reverse that decision and transfer back.

Ultimately, your chosen regulated adviser can take you through these initial steps at a relatively low cost. It is essential to bear in mind the merits or drawbacks that may appear with the transfer, but might not become clear until several years down the line. One example of this is that a client is probably not going to run out of money in the first year. The risk of this however could increase in the following 10-15 years, if they, for example, decide to spend all of their money on the aforementioned Lamborghini.

Contact details:

Telephone: 01892506891; 0203 096 3385

Email:  pc@bondwealth.co.uk

Financial professional and Founder of Texas-based Hybrid Financial Rocky Campbell established his company to offer premier retirement services and believes in doing business with integrity. Below, he discusses the financial services that his company offers, as well as his tips for a well-organized retirement plan.

Please tell us a little about the financial services that you help clients with.

While Americans are presented with an ever-changing financial marketplace, making the right financial decisions at the right time can be critical to achieving their financial security and accomplishing financial objectives. Hybrid Financial will guide the process of identifying financial goals, account organization, risk analysis, and problem solving to help their clients accomplish their financial goals safely and simply.

What would you say are the specific challenges of assisting clients with financial solutions?

Not every client is a right fit us and realising that from the start will save both of us time. I’m not the jack of all trades I’m a specialist. Specifically, a specialist in safe money solutions and income producing retirement strategies. I’m real - I don’t tell people what they want to hear. I stick to a single message - safety of principal. I’m a hardworking and straightforward person I believe that if you do the right thing for people, things will work out for you.

What are the most important aspects that need to be ironed out in order to achieve satisfactory result and a well-organized retirement plan for your clients?

We form a strategy that will best fit the client’s needs and will help them feel confident about their financial future.

How do you assist clients with finding out if they are compliant with federal requirements applicable to retirement?

Compliance is important. Our compliance officer will ensure that as the world changes around us, we change with it and notify our clients of any regulations that need to be adhered to.

How can your clients ensure that as much of their estate goes to their family on their death?

We use beneficiary driven products that bypass probate and go directly to the named beneficiary. We believe that all money should go to the family. A living will, or trust can also assist in providing clarity during time of death.

What’s Hybrid Financial’s philosophy?

I don’t do things that I don’t really, really believe in. And something I believe in is the message of the tortes and the hare. Now the hare was fast, but the tortes won the race. Slow and steady wins the race. If we can prevent our clients from going backwards and losing any of their assets to fees and stock market declines, they have more power to win the money game. That’s what I do - I help people slowly and steadily win their financial race, one person at a time.

The collapse of Monarch is “a not-to-be-ignored red flag” for people on the cusp of retirement, warns the boss of one of the world’s largest independent financial services organisations.

The warning from Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group, comes as Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, today faces questions over Monarch Airlines, once one of the UK’s biggest holiday airlines, which ceased trading at the beginning of this month.

Mr Green comments: “The high-profile collapse of Monarch, together with the accusations of asset-stripping, leaves yet another pension fund in question.   Indeed, its collapse should serve as a not-to-be-ignored red flag for people on the cusp of retirement.

“It has been reported that the pension fund, which is in the government’s lifeboat rescue fund, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), could have been left short when it went under back in 2014.

“The PPF is an invaluable resource. But with UK final-salary pension schemes now having an alarming £1.6tn of liabilities and a £224bn deficit, and the problem only getting worse, it can be reasonably assumed that it is perhaps seriously feeling the squeeze.  How many more high profile collapses could it sustain?”

He continues: “The truth is despite rising equity markets and a global outlook looking relatively rosy, many firms are still battling to fund their pension schemes.

“It is crucial for pension members to understand exactly what represents a risk to their pensions and how these can be mitigated.

“In the same way people have their cars regularly serviced, it is now more important than ever that individuals seek independent advice on an annual basis to ensure that they are completely aware of their pensions and how much they should expect to receive in retirement.

“Regularly reviewing and taking action on your financial planning strategy, where appropriate and possible to do so, will mean that you’re less likely to receive an unwelcome shock upon retirement.”

Mr Green concludes: “Now is the time that savers should ensure that they are properly diversified to mitigate the increasing threats to their retirement funds.”

(Source: deVere Group)

The World Economic Forum has warned that future generations will be haunted by the effects of a global pension crisis that is brewing today. The FT's Josephine Cumbo speaks to Michael Drexler, head of financial and infrastructure systems at WEF, about what can be done.

 This month, Finance Monthly introduces you to STM Malta Trust & Company Management and its Managing Director and thought leader with twenty years’ experience in the financial services -Deborah Schembri.

STMM primarily provides pensions administration services to international clients. The company is registered as a Retirement Scheme Administrator with the Malta Financial Services Authority. It is also authorised to act as trustee or co-trustee to provide fiduciary services in terms of the Trusts and Trustees Act.

The company administers a number of pension schemes, both trust-based and contract-based. Some of these schemes also qualify as QROPS (Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme) or QNUPS (Qualifying Non-UK Pension Scheme) as applicable. STMM is part of STM Group plc - an independent firm listed on the London Stock Exchange. STM Group has offices in Gibraltar, Spain, Malta, Jersey and UK.

Deborah Schembri, the youngest member and the only woman on the STMM Board, is a Certified Public Accountant, who holds a Masters in Business Administration from Henley Management College, as well as a Diploma in Retirement Provision, pursued with the UK Pensions Management Institute. With over twenty years’ experience of holding senior managerial roles in the financial services industry, Deborah has formulated new strategic directions and implemented the necessary changes, while making a lasting impact in these organizations.

Deborah joined STMM in 2012 and was appointed Managing Director in 2014. Over the past five years, as a result of Deborah’s hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, the Company has registered exceptional and extraordinary growth.

Over the past few years, Malta has established itself as a centre for the management and administration of personal pension schemes. While it has primarily been catering to the UK market, other European cross-border schemes are currently being established and rapid growth in the pensions in Malta market is expected.

The creation of international pension plans in Malta became a possibility fairly recently, as pension provision has traditionally been considered from a purely domestic perspective; however, the increasing mobility of both people and companies has facilitated this paradigm shift.

The Retirement Pensions Act (Chapter 514 of the Laws of Malta) came into force on 1st January 2015. The new Regulations and Pension Rules also came into force on 1st January 2015.

A new set of Regulations and Pensions Rules have been issued under the Act to supplement the legal framework for the licensing and regulation of Retirement Schemes (both Occupational and Personal), Retirement Funds and Service Providers related thereto, as well as for the requirement of recognition for persons carrying on back-office administrative services.

For major multinationals, administering pension schemes in multi jurisdictions can be an expensive and highly complex process. This presents a key opportunity to introduce an international pension solution that enables multinationals to use Malta as a centre from which to manage and centralize their retirement benefits schemes and consolidate their employee pension schemes benefiting from greater economies of scale, while achieving sizeable cost savings by operating from one jurisdiction under one regulatory regime.

As a member of the EU, Malta provides a pan European platform that is secure, well-regulated, and innovative. Backed up by a professional support structure and experienced skills base, Malta's new pensions legislation has been well-received internationally and the provision of international pensions is considered as the next major development in the jurisdiction's financial services offerings.

Benefits of Pensions and Retirement Schemes in Malta

• Retirement schemes and their administrators are licensed and fully regulated by the Malta.
• Retirement schemes and their administrators are licensed and fully regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA).
• Thanks to Malta's EU membership, companies established in other EU member states can sponsor occupational schemes established in Malta.
• Fees for the administration and management of the scheme are comparatively lower than in other jurisdictions.
• A strong regulatory framework and the MFSA ensure the integrity of the plan and peace of mind for the scheme's members.
• Legislation allows for a number of customised structures that suit the requirements of individuals or international businesses.

STM Malta will be pleased to receive any enquires on the below contact details:

E-mail address: info@stmmalta.com

Telephone number 00356 21 333 210

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published new proposals on advice relating to pension transfers where consumers have safeguarded benefits, primarily for transfers from Defined Benefit to Defined Contribution pension schemes.

The FCA proposals aim to reflect the current environment and the increased demand for pension transfer advice. Since the introduction of the pension freedoms in April 2015, consumers have more options available to access their pension savings. This has combined with more recent changes to the financial environment leading to historically high levels of transfer values.

The new rules outline the FCA’s expectations of advisers and pension transfer specialists to ensure that consumers receive advice which considers all relevant factors. They build on an FCA alert on advising on pension transfers published in January.

The proposed changes include requiring transfer advice to be provided as a personal recommendation, and replacing the current transfer value analysis with a comparison to show the value of the benefits being given up. Taken together as a package, the proposals will ensure that advice fully takes account of an individual’s circumstances so that consumers make the right decision for them.

Christopher Woolard, Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA said: “Defined Benefit pensions, and other safeguarded benefits such as guarantees, are valuable so most consumers will be best advised to keep them. However, we recognise that the environment has changed significantly, so we want to ensure that financial advice considers the customer’s circumstances in full and recognises the various options now available to them.

“Our new approach should better equip advisers to give the right advice so that consumers make well informed decisions.”

The proposals include:

• replacing the current transfer value analysis requirement (TVA) with a comparison showing the value of the benefits being given up
• introducing a rule to require all advice in this area to be provided as a personal recommendation, which fully reflects the client’s circumstances and provides a recommended course of action
• updating our guidance on assessing suitability when giving a personal recommendation to convert or transfer safeguarded benefits, so that advisers focus on whether a transaction is right for a particular individual
• introducing guidance on the role of a pension transfer specialist

(Source: FCA)

Kicking off February’s Thought Leader section is an interview with Lee French – a professional who’s dedicated his career to the employee benefits industry. Previously Head of Defined Contribution Pensions and Client Relationship Management at Alexander Forbes Consultants & Actuaries, Lee is a Director of Corinthian Affinity Solutions, the specialist arm of the Corinthian Group (previously Beaufort Consulting), which enables accountants, payroll providers, IFAs and other ‘affinity’ groups to deliver a simple, all-inclusive and easy to understand auto-enrolment solution for their clients which saves them money, time and stress. Corinthian Affinity has created a straightforward online solution that is simple, clear, cost-effective and most importantly, compliant. It is a standardised solution which provides straight through end-to-end processing using the company’s market leading auto-enrolment portal and Salvus Master Trust Pension Scheme. Here Lee sheds some light on auto-enrolment, the solutions that Corinthian Affinity provides and the firm’s ethics and goals moving forward.

Corinthian Affinity offers auto-enrolment solutions to employers, accountants, payroll bureaux and other 'Affinity' groups - what are the main challenges associated with operating within the sector?

I think that the biggest challenge at the moment, which is not only our challenge, but is also an industry challenge, is lack of understanding and lack of engagement from both employers and employees. Auto-enrolment has been thrust upon hundreds of thousands of employers that have never had pension schemes in the past. At the moment, we are seeing the antithesis of engagement, since employers have no other choice but to comply with auto-enrolment and the processes it involves. Their employees are auto-enrolled into a pension scheme without any real understanding and due to inertia, very few make the decision to ‘opt-out’. Since the Retail Distribution Review back in 2012, advisers can no longer get a commission from pension providers, which typically would have paid for education and engagement exercises, such as presentations and one-to-ones. Therefore, many employers don’t understand the concept and see it as a tax, rather than a benefit, and are not willing to pay for education exercises themselves.

The Department for Work and Pensions has tried to raise awareness of workplace pensions through numerous advertising campaigns, since one in five companies now miss their staging date. In fact, the Pensions Regulator’s quarterly bulletin showed that the number of compliance notices (the notice you receive if you fail to meet your first deadline) went up by 25% in the last quarter of 2016. Today, 31 680 compliance notices have gone out since auto-enrolment started in October 2012. This worrying trend will continue as we’re now looking at the smaller end of the market – the small employer that probably doesn’t know much about the legislation and the impact it will have on them.

Another issue that we are faced with is the fact that most employers are completely missing the point of auto-enrolment – auto-enrolment actually has very little to do with pensions, it is mainly all about process, administration and data. This lack of knowledge results in many people using NEST - the workplace pension solution set up by the Government for all those employers who can’t or don’t want to find another pension scheme. The problem with this is however that the main reason for a lot of people using NEST is simply because it’s free. They register with NEST and then they don’t do anything with regards to their actual duties, which naturally results in them getting fined. This is why our main goal is to educate these people and make sure that they understand all the processes involved in auto-enrolment, so they can see it as a benefit, rather than a tax.

Could you talk Finance Monthly through future legislative changes in the auto-enrolment landscape?

The Department for Work and Pensions is currently consulting on a review of the legislation. The biggest change, that I think everyone in the industry wants to see happen is an increase in the contributions. At the moment, come April 2019, the contributions are only going to be 8% - 5 % from the employee and 3 % from the employer. At Corinthian, we don’t think that’s going to provide the typical employee with a suitable pension or retirement savings when they reach retirement age. However, this is not in scope for the review.

Thus far the UK has been closely following the Australian method for pension saving. I believe that if we continue doing so, we’ll soon see a scrapping of the opt-out rules. At the moment, although automatically enrolled into a pension scheme, the employer still has to give the employee the option to opt-out of it. Although, due to apathy, the vast majority of people won’t do anything, it would be more efficient if employees have no other option but to stay in the pension scheme.

Another thing that’s been looked at by the Government is tackling the issue of the self-employed, since at the moment there’s no legislative requirement in regards to their retirement savings. I believe that the Government’s next focus will be on legislation for them.

In what ways are these going to affect the sector and Corinthian’s practice?

 In terms of the sector, I foresee a merger of a lot of companies - I think the number of employee benefit consultancies and pension providers will be reduced, since the larger employee benefit consultancies will swallow up some of the smaller ones. We’ve already seen the start of this trend with Aviva and Friends Life’s merger. As we want to work with real companies and their employees, being part of a larger employee benefit consultancy won’t necessarily suit us, therefore we’re in it for the long haul.

Recent legislative changes will make our job of increasing education, understanding and engagement more important because when there are changes of this magnitude, it’s important that employers know about them and understand them. Our aim is for all employers to see auto-enrolment as a benefit as quickly as possible and to make sure they give the opportunity to their employees to understand it too.

What are the most common auto-enrolment solutions that you offer to your clients?

Although we approach every meeting with a potential client or partner with a blank sheet of paper, Corinthian Affinity offer three main solutions. The first is for an ‘affinity’ group who operate payroll, we provide them with the auto-enrolment solution so that they can give an all-inclusive service to their clients, saving them time, money and lots of stress.  The client doesn’t even have to know we exist, as we provide the accountant, payroll bureau or bookkeeper with the support, so that they can white label it as their solution.

If a company doesn’t operate payroll and can’t administer auto-enrolment (for example like many IFAs), then we can do all the work for them to make their clients fully-compliant and assist them throughout the whole process. All that the client needs to do is send us their payroll data every pay period and we’ll do the rest.

Lastly, the most popular consulting solution that we offer, called Assist, is mainly aimed at those employers who want to do a little extra for their employees and ensure they understand the pension scheme and the benefits it provides. We help the employers with communications and engagement programs. We will provide branded booklets, bespoke presentations and salary sacrifice for pension contributions. In addition, we will provide the employer with governance meetings to ensure that they are fully engaged and understand the importance of the benefits that they provide.

How do you tailor your approach when advising on auto-enrolment? 

Our approach is very much tailored to what the client wants. Unlike many of our competitors, we still want to meet every potential client face to face and go into every meeting with a blank piece of paper, we ask what their ideal solution in the given situation is, regardless of whether we’re talking to an accountant, IFA or an employer directly. We then put together a bespoke plan for them. I believe that this is why having different levels of service and not having a set product works much better for our customers.

What complications would you say the firm encounters on a regular basis? How are these resolved?

It’s down to the lack of understanding about the legislation. Regardless of the legislation that the Government is introducing, they always seem to make it as complex as possible. If you go on to the Pensions Regulator’s website, you’ll find 484 pages of guidance on auto-enrolment and see how complicated that legislation is, which results in a huge lack of understanding. As mentioned earlier, our clients don’t understand that it’s all about the process and that it’s their responsibility to ensure that they fulfil their duties. Therefore, what we’re trying to do is improve their lives by making the complex simple.

What are the company’s top three priorities towards its clients? How has this evolved over the years?

I think that our top three main priorities are around education, understanding and engagement -making sure that both the employer and employee understand what’s going on. These have been our top priorities since the very beginning – our main focus has always been on real companies and making sure that the employer is getting a return on their benefit spend, by employees understanding their pension schemes and the other benefits they receive. What we’ve tried to develop here at Corinthian is the same as what we developed previously with Alexander Forbes – helping employers and employees gain a full understanding of their benefits package, seeing it as a total reward rather than focusing purely on the basic salary.

What goals are you currently working towards with Corinthian Affinity Solutions? What is your vision for the future of its services?

When Corinthian Affinity was established early in 2015, our aim was to support those small and micro employers staging between 2016 and 2018. As many of these will turn to their professional adviser for help, it was important that we provided a service to those ‘affinity’ groups, hence why we are supporting so many accountants, bookkeepers and IFAs. We see this continuing until auto-enrolment is fully embedded and becomes second nature. We also see a very big secondary market of accountants, bookeepers, IFAs and employers who have worked with other employee benefit consultancies or with NEST and are suddenly realising that they get no value from this partnership.  At Corinthian it’s all about a value added service and we’re spending more time on this aspect so that we can provide our partners and clients with a solution that’s going to save them time, money and stress.

What do you anticipate for the sector in the near future?

I expect more digital and online solutions – we’re certainly looking at developing our online capabilities further. Our website was completely revamped in October last year when we launched as Corinthian, but we still want to develop more digital solutions that can help with the education, understanding and engagement of pension scheme members.

In relation to the sector – I feel that everyone is going to try to compete for the secondary market in auto-enrolment. However there will come a time when we all get back to our day jobs of assisting employers and employees with all of their employee benefits, and not just the pension schemes.

What lies on the horizon for Corinthian Group and Corinthian Affinity Solutions in 2017?

2017 is going to be a massive year for us – there are still 800 000 employers who haven’t reached their staging date. This means that many companies will need our help and there’s a lot of people that we can assist this year. We’d be happy to get to work with even 1% of these 800 000 companies to ensure we make their lives easier and allow them to focus on running their business.

How would you evaluate your role and its impact?

I’ve known the MD and the other two directors for a long time, so in 2015 when they asked me to come in and set up the separate business, which is now Corinthian Affinity, I was delighted. Initially I started off designing the proposition and spending time with our own accountants to find out exactly what it was they wanted. Once I understood their needs it put me in a better position to start discussing this with other accountants, bookkeepers and IFAs who needed help. I spend a lot of time coaching and working with our relationship managers to ensure that they provide the exceptional customer service that we pride ourselves on. Over the course of the next two months, we’re moving offices to Tunbridge Wells and all of us, the four directors, are completely dedicated to supporting each other and the wider business to ensure that we can continue to deliver on our core values.

What’s your golden nugget of advice for other professionals working within the auto-enrolment sector?

They need to engage with their clients more. A lot of our competitors offer free services but they don’t offer any value added service - they’ll set up the pension scheme and then walk away. I believe that it’s vital to provide ongoing support to our partners and clients that we’re working with and actually engage with them. We try to add actual value to our clients and give them all the support that we can, so they can continue running their businesses. I’d say that the vast majority of our competitors just don’t do that.

Richard and Naomi Collinson, Co-Founders of RetireEasy.co.uk

Almost a million wealthy retirees in the UK plan to work part-time rather than raid their pension pots, despite new freedoms allowing them to do so from April 6, according to a report from RetireEasy.co.uk, the independent, free financial planning tool for those in or nearing retirement.

Offering unprecedented insight into the finances of the UK’s pre-retiree and retiree millionaires, The RetireEasy Fret-free Retirees Report showed that many plan to live on an income of at least £43,000 (€60,000) per annum in retirement after tax. This will consist of approximately £23,500 (€32,500) in part-time wages, supplemented by their pension, savings and investment returns.

It seems these retirees are in no rush to liquidate their pension assets, despite greater freedom to do so. The RetireEasy report showed that almost three-quarters of the Fret-frees (71%) do not plan to take their pension benefits earlier than expected. Once retired, they do plan to withdraw £23,000 (€32,000) per annum from their SIPP/SASS (less than 6% of the total funds available) and almost two-thirds (61%) plan to spend this income on luxury items such as a kitchen, cruise or car.

However, with assets conservatively valued at £1.5 million (€2 million) on average (including home equity), the Fret-frees may be underestimating how much cash they will have to enjoy the high life in their retirement, according to RetireEasy, which estimates a budget of up to £77,700 (€107,000) per year is easily achievable for the average Fret-free.

Richard and Naomi Collinson, Co-Founders of RetireEasy.co.uk, said: “Even after taking a holistic view of their assets and liabilities, the real issue is they may have taken too conservative a view of their income, meaning they could spend a great deal more per year on the carefree and exciting retirement they have waited their whole lives to enjoy.”

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