Commenting on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) health expectancy figures, Andy Zanelli, head of technical sales, AXA Wealth, said: “Latest ONS figures on health expectancy should be the rude awakening that government, consumers and the financial services industry need to focus on how we are going to fund the growing period of time we will spend in retirement. Initiatives such as removing the need to take an annuity and new drawdown options, along with next year’s auto-enrolment, are a good starting point, but only that.
“People are going to need to work longer, saver earlier and vary the way in which they access their money in their retirement, all of which needs to be underpinned by better financial education for consumers alongside the provision of professional advice. This industry has spent too long talking in jargon that has little meaning for many. Tackling a problem of this scale needs plain English for the message to be understood.
“Steps have been taken to address this, but we still need a clear, coherent and consistent narrative from government to help consumers change the way they think about long term saving.
“Clear communication is at the heart of the AXA Wealth brand, with a range of resources including practical guidelines, tools and templates in place to ensure plain English is used across customer communication.”
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