Columbia Threadneedle: Lifestyling - the Achilles heel in DC pensions

Columbia Threadneedle: Lifestyling - the Achilles heel in DC pensions
Multi Asset Fonds

Why too much derisking – the accepted orthodoxy in UK defined contribution pensions – is a bad thing.

22.11.2024 | 05:30 Uhr

  • Derisking in DC pensions stemmed from the historical rule to purchase an annuity on retirement. Despite Pension Freedom scrapping the annuity requirement back in 2015, derisking (lifestyling) remains the accepted orthodoxy in the UK
  • Other DC pension systems, notably Australia, do not ‘derisk with age‘ making the UK something of an outlier
  • The cost of this excessive de-risking is twofold:
    • To the saver: The average performance drag is 2.3% per year, or around £12,000 to a typical £100,000 pre-retirement pension pot. Every five-year period since data began (2013-2018) has seen lower returns to the de-risked/lifestyled cohorts.
    • To the nation: Tackling excessive derisking could deliver a £10 billion-£25 billion boost to UK capital markets and investment. The excessive de-risking in DC pensions contributes to the outflows and related decline of UK financial markets and the lack of capital to support domestic growth.

In August, I teamed up with Policy Exchange’s James Vitali to publish Growing Pension Capital – Lessons From Australia, with a foreword penned by former Pensions Minister Baroness Altmann.1 The report highlighted the steps the UK will need to take for defined contribution (DC) to emulate the success of Australian superannuation.

One key observation was that the UK DC system is too risk adverse, a hangover from the “safety first” approach of the defined benefit (DB) system. By contrast, Australia adopts a more proportionate approach to both risk and return.


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