Making pensions relevant to the lives young people want to build
A home, a car, further study or the chance to travel: participants in Legal & General’s fifth Purpose Lab session had plenty of ideas about what they wanted money to help them achieve. Retirement sat further from their immediate plans. The conversation explored how pensions could become more relevant within that wider picture of financial wellbeing.
For the Purpose Coalition and Legal & General, the discussion offered an opportunity to hear how participants weighed future security against the costs and ambitions in front of them. One participant connected saving for a car with independence. Another wanted to travel but was less certain about how to turn that ambition into a savings plan. Starting with those goals made the conversation about finance more concrete.
Pensions initially brought later life to mind for some participants, rather than decisions they could start making much earlier. As the discussion developed, questions became more specific. Participants wanted to understand contributions, how pension savings are invested and what happens when someone changes jobs. They also raised questions about access to money, protection and ethical investment choices.
The responses did not suggest that a lack of information was the only barrier. One participant was interested in managing investments independently and having greater control. Others considered how money put aside for the future would sit alongside nearer-term needs. Any useful conversation has to leave room for those different priorities and for what people can afford.
A recurring request was for balanced information. Participants wanted explanations of disadvantages and trade-offs as well as benefits. A presentation that only made the positive case risked sounding like a sales pitch. Clear answers to difficult questions could do more to build confidence than reassurance on its own.
The way information was presented mattered too. Relatable examples and stories about people at different stages of working life helped make a distant subject easier to imagine. Participants discussed the value of workshops in schools and universities, where there would be room to ask questions. In a hypothetical comparison between jobs, one participant said a more generous employer pension contribution could influence their choice, suggesting a connection to decisions much closer than retirement.
Participants described a range of places they might look for financial information, from family and banks to online searches and social media. Finding something online did not automatically mean trusting it. That distinction creates an important challenge for organisations: information must be easy to encounter and credible enough to use.
The session showed interest growing as the subject became clearer and more connected to everyday choices. For organisations seeking to engage young people, the practical starting point is to understand what they are trying to achieve, then offer accessible, balanced explanations that help them ask better questions about their future.
