Towie star and TV personality Gemma Collins, aka the GC, is fronting the latest Pension Attention campaign to highlight the importance of saving for later life.
Collins appears in a parody beauty advert which focuses on the skin-deep effects of ageing, which is a key concern for people over the age of 35. By contrast, saving money for older age is much further down the list of priorities.
More than half (57 percent) of British people purchased anti-ageing products in the last 12 months, but only 23 percent took time to organise their finances for later life, according to a OnePoll survey of 2,000 UK adults.
However, the Pension Attention campaign encourages people to “forget about the fears of fine lines, or worries about wrinkles, and prioritise pension provision when thinking about later life”.
Can’t hustle forever
“To be honest, I hadn’t previously given much thought to my retirement and the money I might need for it. It has always felt such a long way off,” Collins admitted.
“But working on the Pension Attention campaign, and chatting to [money expert] Iona Bain, has opened my eyes to the importance of thinking about my plans now and facing forward. I don’t want to be hustling forever and working 24/7 on the trot.
“If you can do one thing today – then just have a look at your pension and give it some attention. It’s going to be top of my list now.”
Help your future self
People can visit the pensionattention.co.uk website to see three short films featuring Collins and Bain where they highlight what people can do right now to help themselves in the future.
These steps include finding out if you have any lost pension pots, signing into any pension accounts you have to check what you’ll get when you retire, and imagining your future self and how much you’ll need in retirement to live the life you’d want.
Bain said: “Your pension is a powerful key to living your best life in retirement, but it’s not just something older people have to think about. The earlier you start looking at, and paying into your pension, the better.
“The good news is that most people are entitled to a workplace pension – the problem is that many people lose track of them and don’t check them regularly. One relatively easy win is to track down all your old pensions, which you may have paid into in previous jobs. To help take you through it step by step, visit the Pension Attention website today.”
‘Aligning beauty, ageing and finance’
Chris Blackwood, campaign spokesperson, said: “By getting Gemma Collins on board, we’re hoping to engage more people than ever with their current pension pots. This year, we’re urging the nation to ‘face forward’ by parodying some of the stereotypical ads for anti-ageing cosmetics.
“Our research shows that many people aged 35-55 have started to think about physical ageing and taking steps to prevent it but many have not yet started planning financially for later life. As such, we hope that by aligning beauty, ageing and finance we can reach those who haven’t yet engaged with their pensions.
“As an industry, we have an important role to help UK adults engage in and understand their pensions and prepare for later life. By coming together – under a single umbrella – with a simple, bold and memorable campaign, we can build on the successes of the last two years and continue to increase saver engagement in pensions.”
The sooner you act the better
Minister for Pensions Emma Reynolds said: “Everyone should feel confident about their retirement. That’s why I’m excited to support this Pension Attention campaign, as the sooner you act on your pension, the more positive the outcome in retirement.
“Thanks to automatic enrolment, over 22 million workers are saving into a workplace pension but it’s vital that people know how much they have saved to plan for a better future.”
This is the third Pension Attention campaign, following two previous award-winning campaigns lead by rapper, grime artist and broadcast personality Big Zuu and television presenter Timmy Mallett.
