Are you happy with your pension arrangements?

If there is one sector of the financial industry which has suffered more than most over the last 10 years it has to be pensions. We have seen the demise, and almost extinction, of the final salary pension scheme in the private sector and investment returns reduced significantly over the last decade. As a consequence more and more people are now becoming more and more concerned about their prospects for retirement and whether indeed they will have sufficient funding to lead the life they crave.

A recent survey suggests that around one third of the UK is happy and confident with regards to their pension arrangements with a suggestion that the vast majority of people are concerned about their retirement. This comes at a time when the UK state pension is coming under more and more pressure and until recently had been falling in real terms. The problem which the authorities have is the fact that this pension funds issue cannot be turned around overnight and will need significant investment from employees, employers and the government are soon as possible.

The sad truth is that the authorities had been warned in the past that a pension crisis was on the way but unfortunately a number of tax changes did not help the situation and indeed no money has been forthcoming from the authorities.