Financial Services > Savings > Savings and Investments News
Government believed to have little impact on savings gap

Thu, 11 Aug 2005

Government efforts will not be able to close the nation's huge savings gap, the majority of financial advisers believe.

Research revealed that 82 per cent of financial advisers believe the government will have little or no impact in closing the £27 billion savings gap.

A further 15 per cent believe the government efforts will only have a moderate impact on savings for retirement pensions, Winterthur Life UK found.

According to the group's chief Mike Kellard, the findings suggest that even the "radical shake-up" of UK pensions will not convince Britons to start saving money for their retirement pensions.

"If there is no appetite or demand, which I believe strongly is currently the case, then it doesn’t matter how simple or cheap saving for retirement is made to be, it will undoubtedly fail," Mr Kellard commented.

He believes unbiased and fair education on saving money is necessary from a very early age.

This should be continued in the workplace, he added, with employees being educated about the importance of regular savings and the tax benefits of contributing to a pension scheme.

This must also be backed up with a regular reality check of what income the basic state pension actually translates into in retirement.

"Only then will saving for retirement drop onto the consumer radar and only then will government-backed initiatives bear fruit in helping to close the ever-widening £27 billion savings gap," Mr Kellard concluded.

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