Remember LISAs? HTBISAs? PEPs? Stakeholder Pensions and ISAs? MIRAS? All are previous attempts by governments to encourage us to save for retirement and/or home ownership. All the bright ideas of that year’s chancellor and all abolished or superceded by another. Early access pensions will, effectively, not be pensions and will bring still more confusion to an already confused system, as all the previous versions will still be around. The immutable truth is that those who are motivated to save will save and those who have the chance to, or have to, will spend. The only long-term savings plans which have actually managed to get those who can’t or won’t, to save have been those collected by Men from the Pro and their ilk; or those which don’t give a choice, like old- and new-style employers’ pensions. Learn the lessons, guys.
“Why you should never retire”
On my 50th birthday, I will always remember, amongst the card or two I received was a letter from Saga’ who’d managed to find out my age through the wonder of the internet, and were pleased to tell me I now qualified to join my parents and go on holiday with them.
