I am pleased to see the Government taking a proper view on how we support the elderly with social care. Let us not mistake the time it will take to come up with sensible changes with some view of Government kicking this topic under the bed. This is still the start of this Government. We do not expect another election for four and half years. We have had enough of a new Government every year, we want vision and not the kind of  behaviour we have seen in Government the past 10 years;.

I can see the Government taking a sensible view on the use of funded pensions to ensure that as people grow old, they are comfortable that they have financial support. Pensions are not finite within a pension fund, as people pass on, a pension fund is released from one obligation and takes on another. People pass into that stage of life where they become dependent on pensions. Initially older people use the pension to extend their younger lifestyle but as they move into a later part of life, they need to buy services if they want to stay independent.

From an economic point of view, there is no finite call on pension funds, they must of course be able to meet pension promises and sometimes mortality payments but a wholesale shift into a defensive strategy rather than a balanced strategy is wrong. Whether it be lifestyle strategies for individual DC pots or a mature DB fund strategy, there is no reason to suppose that pensions will stop being paid. That view has been set upon us  by those who see funded DB (especially in the private sector) as an anachronism.

We need a positive attitude not just to those in need of social care today but to those like me beginning their switch from work to retirement and to those building up a retirement buffer through saving (with help from employers).

We must accept whether the means of sharing the successes and failures of pension funding , that pensions must take risk to achieve their ambitions. That goes for CDC as well, let’s hope that it becomes more than just a curiosity at Royal Mail. But the main shift we need to embrace and profit from is the investment of money into pensions.

As I have written several times since getting out of hospital, it has become absolutely important that we take a positive view on life. A lady who had supposed that I would die when she took me on immediately after my incident came to bid me well as I left 5 weeks later. I explained to her I would behave cautiously because I knew that I might have further brain haemorrhages. She looked at me and told me that there was no chance of me regressing. It is now clear that this was an urgency to me to think positively about my future and not to de-risk my lifestyle.

Social Care, Pensions and Growth

I think it very possible that our society could de-risk both the finances and the lifestyles of people as they get older. We could do this by dumbing down expectations from pensions and social care.

2025 is 45 squared, let’s not give our futures to middle aged mathematicians who would see a de-risking attitude as preferable. If you want that vision, regard King Lear as a comedy.

Our future is not to be co0nsigned to a deadly home where the hope is a short residency. Our pension schemes should not consider a reduction in liabilities as a good thing. If we do not aspire to have a pension section where lifetime is longer and happier then we have lost touch with the purpose of being involved with pensions.

I suppose that anyone who has got this far, is interested in pensions, social care (especially for those in later life) . I also hope that they see a pushing back of the state pension age as a sign we are living long and working longer. I hope pensioners will continue to  see pensions linked to earnings and hope that earnings will grow faster than inflation. Most of all, I hope that economies which pensions are invested into, provide long term returns in excess of what is needed. I hope that people talk of surpluses because risks have been rewarded.

Finally, for those who are at early stages of their working lives, I hope that they come to see the Government’s vision for social care and the urgency of their wish for pensions to invest in the businesses they work in, as positive. This Government is making the right sounds and I am prepared to keep my ears and eyes open and to report on what I hope is a positive view on Social Care, Pensions and Growth.