Michael Ambery, Head of DC Provider Relations at Hymans Robertson welcomes the PLSA's Retirement Living Standards at its Annual Conference:

“The arrival of the PLSA’s retirement savings targets today is great news for the industry and for retirement aspirations across the country. By pairing target lifestyles to an annual income, savers can start to seriously consider what they’ll need to live off when they retire, and how best to achieve that. There’s no doubt that the introduction of pensions auto-enrolment contributions have been incredibly successful at getting people to start saving. But it’s also clear that, as a nation, we are still far from being able to say ‘job done’. Our analysis of almost one million pension members with DC plans found that three-quarters of savers were currently “off-track” from receiving an adequate income in retirement.

“Pensions can be complex, so many people find it hard to know if they are saving enough to be able to retire, or reduce their working hours, when they’d like. Our experience, through seeing the targets set through our Guided Outcomes technology platform over the last five years, shows that people respond positively to the offer of a tangible savings goal. It can motivate in the same way that many set personal targets across all aspects of their life, such as travelling the world or getting more exercise.

“The targets announced by the PLSA are a fantastic step forward and will go a long way towards addressing the current savings crisis.  If the industry embraces them they will help many more people to feel more confident that they can retire on an adequate income. We look forward to continuing our work with the PLSA and the industry to enable the targets to be adopted broadly. If this can help pensions schemes and providers engage with members or simply encourage them to save with the certainty and security of a guaranteed retirement lifestyle it is great news!”