Home > Opinion > Hal Austin
We need an early warning system
There is a powerful case for compelling pension providers to issue an early warning alert to people at least two years out from the state retirement age.
Such a policy development would remove the advantages the bigger providers get at present from the inertia of members and the laziness of their employers and some advisers.
But annuities are just one part of the confusing pensions landscape, despite promises to simplify products and regulations.
Personal Accounts, the brain child of Lord (Adair) Turner's pensions commission, is also facing a series of hiccups as we approach 2012 and there is talk about the new universal accounts being another stakeholder pension. This may be a bit pessimistic.
However, it the Tories go ahead with their promise to overhaul Personal Accounts and long-term savings, as Theresa May has announced, it will almost certainly take another five to 10 years to put in place a new vehicle capable of lasting 20 years.
The KiwiSaver, the 401(K) and numerous other pensions and savings vehicles, including the Tories' Lisa, were all part of the long-running debate which followed Labour's May 1997 general election victory, so to overhaul the system at this late state will be nothing short of recklessness.
There will also be an incredible cost to providers who have already put in place systems to deal with personal accounts.
More importantly, it will undermine attempts to create a much-needed savings culture in Britain.
