Pension Awareness marks decade with five-day event

The Pension Awareness campaign will mark its first decade with a five-day event from 11 to 15 September. Ten years on, its mission to help people remains at its heart, said organisers. The campaign was created by Grimsby-based savings firm Pension Geeks in 2013. It started as a small meet up with industry providers, before expanding into a double decker bus tour, travelling the country, to the digital offering seen today. Jonathan Bland, co-founder of the campaign, said: “We started Pension Geeks 10 years ago from our kitchen after being frustrated with the lack of materials and guidance that truly helped individuals make sense of pensions. “There were a lot of industry events that talked about how to improve communications but there was nothing aimed at helping people with the nitty gritty of saving for retirement. "That’s why we started the Pension Awareness Campaign - our mission always has been, and continues to be, to provide people with practical and meaningful help, so that they can find the confidence to get to grips with their money.” Since the campaign launched it has won numerous awards for pension engagement and innovative communications. Last year, it saw more than one million people visiting the website and more than 40,000 people attending the shows – with the biggest turn out tuning into the session on explaining pensions and tax, closely followed by the session combining pension pots and how much pension to aim to save. The Pension Awareness campaign, which will run for five days and be hosted online, with a range of industry-wide talent, including ex-pensions minister Sir Steve Webb, The Money and Pensions Service, and numerous providers coming together to help people within the UK make sense of their pensions and money. Consumers will be able to access free and impartial live shows on various pension and money topics, such as explainers on the state pension, combining pots, mortgages – and sessions on how to protect your personal finances. The audience will be able to ask questions through the Pension Awareness live streaming platform. Jonathan Bland said: “Thanks to the backing of providers and our supporters over the years, we’ve been able to keep building the campaign, and to be running for 10 years is an incredible achievement. Through the years I can recall so many stories from people being in tears because they’re at the end of their tether with their pension, or people finding thousands of pounds in pensions they didn’t know about. This campaign has helped to change lives, and that’s why we keep on doing what we’re doing.” Pension Awareness is supported by the Pension Attention Campaign that the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Pension Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) will be leading. It is also supported by financial service companies such as Aon, Canada Life, Isio and moneybox.

Pension Awareness marks decade with five-day event

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