Last Updated on: 22nd November 2023, 02:13 am
Pension Awareness Day 2018 is on Saturday 15th September
- Almost one in five workers not saving anything for retirement(1)
- A team of pensions experts will tour the nation, offering free pension guidance to everyone
- Double decker pensions bus will visit six public locations in part one of tour; in part two, the experts will help employees at 27 of Britain’s biggest employers
The Pension Geeks’ bright blue double decker bus is back on the road for its fourth nationwide tour to mark Pension Awareness Day 2018. A team of experts from Pension Geeks, Scottish Widows and Government-backed Pension Wise and the Money Advice Service will be offering free guidance, information, drop-in sessions and interactive tools and tips. All activities have been developed to help people understand what they need to do to ensure they’re saving for the type of retirement they want.
Scottish Widows’ latest Retirement Report revealed only 55% of people are saving adequately for retirement, while almost one in five (17%) workers are not saving anything.
The bus tour and Pension Awareness Day aim to play its part in helping more people understand the benefits of saving into a pension. The experts are there to help make it an everyday part of the nation’s financial lives.
Visitors to the bus will also have free access to:
- Pension experts to answer their burning questions
- Digital pension personality profiling tool to determine which type of saver they are
- Easy access directly on their own phone to an e-kitbag packed with handy tools, calculators, short videos and websites
- An ‘age-me’ game revealing how savers might look when they retire, based on how much they’re saving and how long for
- How to find out more information and support on their individual pension circumstances
- Free hot drinks from a tuk tuk coffee bar.
The bus will be at the following locations from 10am-6pm:
- Castle Street, Edinburgh (Monday 10 September)
- Northumberland Street South, Newcastle (Tuesday 11 September)
- Humberstone Gate, Leicester (Wednesday 12 September)
- Queen Street, Cardiff (Thursday 13 September)
- Broad Street East, Reading (Friday 14 September)
- Kings Cross Station, London (Saturday 15 September)
From 17th September, the bus will spend three weeks on the road touring some of Britain’s biggest employers to answer employees’ questions about their workplace pension. In addition to this, there will be a static ‘pop up’ version of the tour, at key Lloyds Banking Group locations around the country, including Lloyds Bank’s flagship branch in Manchester.
Jonathan Bland, ‘Head Nerd’ at Pension Geeks, said: “A few years ago I didn’t have a clue about my pension, or indeed pensions in general – it led me to think there must be thousands more people in the same boat. That’s why we started doing this. We want to plug that knowledge gap and get people to understand how it all works to help them prepare for a happier retirement.”
Robert Cochran, retirement expert at Scottish Widows, said: “We’ve supported Pension Geeks since day one because we share the same passion and purpose – helping people achieve the happy retirement they want. For many people, pensions are confusing and they don’t know where to begin with understanding their own pension. For the 2018 tour, we’ve created some fun, interactive ways to help people get to grips with long-term saving, as well as one-on-one access to experts – it will be the best one yet.”
Visit http://www.pensionawarenessday.com/ for more information.
Pension Awareness Day bus tour facts:
- Since the first tour in 2015, the bus has helped over 5,000 people, answering all of their pension questions
- The tour has grown from seven days in 2015 to 21 this year.
- The double decker bus will visit 27 of Britain’s biggest employers this year, helping employees to better understand their pension.
- Experts on the bus will travel around 2,500 miles on the road to complete the tour.
- Last year the experts helped over 2,000 employees on their tour and the team are aiming to speak to even more people this year.
- Last year, the top three most commonly asked questions were: 1. What have I got in my pension pot? 2. Is it going to be enough for me to live comfortably when I retire? 3. What steps should I take next?
