George Lee’s special documentary “Pension Shock: The Future
is now” was aired yesterday evening on RTE1. Overall, the show was interesting,
but represented a somewhat sensationalist view of the pensions situation
and offered few solutions. There was a dominant focus on fees, a brief mention
of the Levy and tax relief and no direct comparison of the pension classes.
Our MD Aidan McLoughlin appeared on the programme. He noted
that we are facing real difficulties if we do not address the deficiencies in
the system soon. We have an opportunity now to fix this problem if we are brave
enough to do so.
One positive outcome of the programme will be that people
will look to review their pension arrangements. The programme showed shocking
examples of people who considered themselves to have sufficient pension
coverage, but in reality their pensions were falling far short of the real
income requirements.
The argument for self-administered structures has only been
strengthened as clients start to take back control of their pensions and look
for transparent fee structures.
You can watch the programme here: