Intergenerational Financial Literacy & Retirement Planning in a Non-Linear World: Report

Intergenerational Financial Literacy & Retirement Planning in a Non-Linear World: Report

We were delighted at the number of participants for our event on Intergenerational Financial Literacy & Retirement Planning in a Non-Linear World on 29 April 2021, and at their level of engagement with our two speakers, Dr Mara Catherine Harvey (www.smartwaytostart.com) and Derek Shiels (www.lyfeplan.ch).

Both speakers highlighted the importance of financial planning in an age of longevity.

Mara spoke to the importance of engaging with children from a very young age on financial literacy, noting that adult money habits are set by the age of 7 and asking us to join her call for action to raise financial confidence in the next generation.

She also spoke to statistics which show that while women are very much involved in every day financial decisions, a majority are not yet involved in long term financial decisions. In this context, she also addressed the issue of gender pay gaps which lead to even wider wealth gaps – citing that a 10% pay gap can mean a 40% wealth gap at retirement!

Derek highlighted the importance of retirement awareness in a world where we have a tendency to overvalue the present and undervalue the future. He noted that retirement is not just about finance and that resilience and health will become increasingly key assets. He cautioned that financial products are not always the only solution and noted that there is no one size fits all approach, as people all have very situations which need to be considered on a case-by-case basis.

We also received some great insights and practical advice from participants at the event, not least on the importance of not waiting until we approach retirement before thinking about different pension plans that we might have paid into over the years in particular if we’ve worked in different countries and what we will individually need to do to ensure that the paperwork is done to bring together all the different “pots”.

And to finish with some quotes from the evening which gave us all food for thought:

“Define a risk appetite that is in line with your time horizon”

“Have a money day in your diary at least twice a year”

“Debt is a dangerous thing with digital money

“No matter what you do with your money you should never have to hit the panic button”

Joanne Goetz, May 2021

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