Flexibility may be important in the context of retirement and benefits packages but, ironically enough, says Karena Woodall, it will not be the only consideration for clients.
Don’t tell my boss but I love 11am meetings. They mean I will probably be in the car at 10.30am to enjoy Radio 2’s Pop Master. This is a guilty pleasure and, I confess, one I am pretty rubbish at – if I get more than nine points I am unjustifiably impressed with myself.
The thing about Pop Master is it is consistent – always on just after 10.30am. Now, I would never consider going out of my way to listen to it but I do know that, if I am in the car at this specific time, it would be there, waiting for me, as regular as clockwork. It is about the only thing – other than kick-off times at Villa Park – that is truly consistent in my life. And even kick-off times can be altered if television dictates it be so.
We live in a world where everything is now flexible and variable or available to us when we need it. I do not think I ever watch anything live on television. I record what I want to watch and watch it at a time when it is convenient to me – fast-forwarding the adverts, of course.
Flexible hours and working mean employees and employers can benefit from a full working day over a longer period of time. Employees looking to fit work around personal commitments are abandoning the traditional 9 to 5 and working more variable hours.
For its part, flexibility in retirement means we can look for contracts that offer us the most personally accommodating options. When we do come to retire, these give us the ability to access all our pensions in one lump sum or phase them over a period of time suitable to our circumstances and our design.
Death benefits under pension schemes now create a situation whereby pensions wealth can cascade down to the next generation, creating additional flexibility. It is all about adaptability, flexibility, control and design.
Flexible benefit and voluntary packages meanwhile enable us to design employee benefit packages to suit us, to factor in our needs, our wants and affordability.
While employers may wish to retain an element of core benefits – for example, a minimum death in service lump sum benefit and/or minimum income replacement – individual employees may choose to increase cover or add in additional benefits. No longer are we told we must have a fixed benefit – we now have choices.
And then there is Pop Master, which as I say is on just after 10.30am every weekday on Radio 2. While I could listen to Pop Master on iPlayer, I like the fact it is a constant and a treat I can listen to if I am actually in the car at that specific point of the day.
Predictability, security and guarantees
The irony is that, while flexibility is important, it is not the only driver of how people look to take benefits. People continue to enjoy predictability, security and guarantees. This fundamental design in our core being drives us to save for the future – whether it be in property, pensions or other strategies. It is the main factor in employers retaining a key element of death benefits within flexible packages.
Will this change? Developments are made in every industry and our expectation of what is ‘normal’ will change. Flexible hours are now more commonplace with modern technology. We have the ability to log into a workplace server from anywhere in the world to complete our seven-hour-plus day.
The generation who lost their pensions in failed defined benefit schemes before lifeboat funds came to the rescue will become the stuff of history books. The modern ways in which to save for the future will become the norm. Legislative changes will continue to facilitate the creation of additional products, designed to facilitate increased control and flexibility.
At the core are people saving, buying products and benefits, retiring, accessing their savings and ultimately … death. Some clients may unfortunately miss out on the retirement element, but ultimately the basics remain the same.
As great as I think my music knowledge is, I will never be brilliant at Pop Master. So I remain content with getting at least three or four questions right. But then, doesn’t everyone aim at the end of the day to get at least three or four things right?
Karena Woodall is a consultant at Mattioli Woods
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