No Pensionese Please We’re Young and British

10 August 2012 (PLANSPONSOREurope.com) – UK Plan sponsors have a job on their hands to demystify auto-enrolment as a new report reveals young Britons are more likely to understand a foreign language than “pensionsese”.

A study, carried by the Press Association, reveals an average of nearly one in four 20 to 29-year-olds (23.3%) understood the exact meaning of simple French, German and Spanish phrases.

But fewer than one in 10 (9.7%) knew the exact meaning of basic pensions terminology, according to the poll by ICM for the Young Money report by financial services consultancy MRM.

One in three (33%) said they knew the exact meaning of the French for “how old are you?”, while one in five (20%) understood the German for “what is your name?” and one in six (17%) for “how are you?” in Spanish.

However, just over one in 10 (11%) said they knew the exact meaning of the term annuity. The same figure understood what final salary pension meant, while just one in every 14 (7%) knew the phrase auto-enrolment.

PLANSPONSOREurope Staff
editors@plansponsoreurope.com