In a world where saving for your pension is considered “normal,” many self employed workers are raging against it.
A new survey has found out what self employed people in this country really think about pensions. It doesn’t make for good reading.
Not when you consider that 52% of traditional employees say that saving into a pension is safe, but, only 28% of self employed people say the same thing.
It’s almost as if the small business owners, freelancers, contractors, and gig workers just can’t (or won’t) see the benefits of getting their pension sorted out. Perhaps flipping burgers and asking “would you like a milkshake with that, sir?” is what they really want to be doing at age 75? Maybe.
One of the main reasons why our nations self employed are so sceptical about pensions is their affordability, according to the survey.
For example, right now many workers in the gig economy are making good money that’s for sure, but they still wonder if putting money into a pension scheme would be the best use of their income.
The same can be said for contractors, many of whom are really pulling in the dosh right now. However, instead of setting aside cash each month to put into a pension, what they are doing is living extravagant lifestyles that involve sports cars, rolex watches, and expensive nightclubs. Being retired is the last thing on their mind.
Right now, as we speak, it is estimated that 2 million self employed people in the UK meet the threshold for being enrolled in some kind of automatic pension scheme.
Within these 2 million people, experts have said that around 77% are male and the vast majority are in the 35 to 49 age category.
Many of these self employed, who are also contractor and freelancers remember, they just don’t think that putting money into a pension is “safe” and would prefer to sort it out themselves with savings or do nothing.
This is all backed up with data from HMRC themselves, where after looking through the numbers we can quite clearly see that self employed pension contributions went down around 50% between the years of 2007 and 2015.
Who knows what is going to happen in 20, 30, and 40 years time when all of these self employed workers reach retirement age? Maybe a job at McDonalds or Burger King is the plan, or perhaps these crafty contractors and freelancers have a different plan up their sleeves? Let’s wait to find out.
