A kick in the Pensions

Recently a major corporation has kicked it's employees in the pension pot by winding up it's final salary pension scheme. The rights and wrongs of doing this are not the central issue, it is the effect on the people who are on the ground rolling in agony. One of the less publicised issues was that the company is changing the level of pension you get if you retire early - from 3% a year to 6 or 7% a year.  There are two issues that are faced for these particular employees; 

1) That their pension pot will be smaller than expected 
2) That their ability to retire early has been affected

These points may not sound devastating, but the reality is with the pressures on jobs, there is a now a risk gap between when people are likely to have a job until and when they can afford to retire. In may industries finding a job when you are 50 is tough, really tough. Not an issue if you have factored that into your pension planning and worked out you can afford to live without a job at age 55, a huge issue if your pension is now not going to reach that level until you a 60+.

Too old to work and too young to retire. Question to self; What are you doing to avoid this gap?

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