At a recent Professional Pensions webinar, Black Rock’s seminar saw Massi Delle Donnne point out that CDC is not a very catchy name. He called for a better one, well here it is Massi!
CDC isn’t much good and we have thought about a name that people would relate to. We have found it in a phrase used by the CWU in explaining to Royal Mail workers what was coming.
Retirement Wage is a wage in retirement; we’d like to use it in our title for CDC and this is why
- We see CDC as an extension of pay people enjoy from work
- Tax-free cash from a CDC plan is designed to give the flexibility that can be afforded from a pension
- We see a bifurcation in workplace saving between schemes that offer flexibility and wealth to manage and schemes that pay deferred to pay
- We think that many workplace savings scheme should not be called pensions as they do not provide an income
People may get wealth from inheritance, scaling down the house or many other sources but the only replacement for wages (for most people) is a pension. For the people who CDC will be aimed at, pensions are largely lacking. The State Pension is not enough to live on , workplace savings do not provide an income.
I am conscious that if converted to default retirement guidance a savings plan may go somewhere between the gap between the current freedom and the previous conversion to an annuity but neither are comparable to A Retirement Wage.
A way of looking at CDC that makes sense to people
CDC has not caught on yet and will struggle to do so. It is hardly catchy or worth a conversation. If you look it up on google it will confuse it with an American Trademark
This is hardly a positive association.
No disease to prevent – Retirement Wage is something to enjoy.
Saving for retirement in a workplace DC scheme is no disease nor a workplace CDC pension scheme. To technical minds the two are distinct and different. But to the ordinary person the difference between pot and pension has become so confused since 2014 that what is received from the State at State Pension Age has nothing to do with what has been saved for.
My view, and those of my colleagues, is that people want to know when they can retire with a little more confidence. To some extent they will see what is coming their way from the Pensions Dashboard which shows the income that can come from DC pots if transferred to level annuities and this is a start. It is not the end and just as the Dashboard arrives, so will guided retirement as a default. Guided retirement has yet to be accommodated on the Dashboard and it will probably find a place around the time when Retirement CDC arrives as a way to convert pot to a Retirement Wage.
Retirement Wage ; a brand making sense of workplace pensions
My conclusion is simple. Retirement Wage is a good name for CDC pensions and should be adopted by whole of life UMES schemes immediately.
The public have yet to cotton on to what CDC and neither have most employers. We are in the stage before the launch of auto-enrolment in early 2012 with decisions needing to be taken by large employers.
They can adopt the brand to talk of CDC as an employee benefiting , boosting their wage in retirement. Working people can plan for what and when they can wind down or stop working.
This phrase does not need a lot of understanding; but it makes sense of CDC to employers and to workers alike.
Suggestions:
CDC – “Targeted Pension”
DB – “Guaranteed Pension”
DC – “Later life savings plan”
Except people don’t like the word “pension” very much , I’m told by studies done at Royal Mail.
My AI offers the following:
To rebrand the concept of a pension, shift the language from passive aging and restrictions to active financial growth, freedom, and personal control.
Four distinct rebranding directions depending on target audience:
An Empowerment Angle (best for younger workers) focusing on personal control, financial independence, and lifestyle choice rather than a traditional old age.
My Freedom Fund (links saving to future independence)
Lifestyle Investment Pot (emphasises growth and choice)
My Liberty Fund (patriotic, secure, and empowering)
A Tech & Growth Angle (best for workplace schemes) borrowing language from tech and investing apps to sound forward-thinking, dynamic, and productive.
Future Wallet (understandable and digital-first)
Life Accelerator Account (frames the money as a tool to speed up future goals)
Wealth Horizon Options (focuses on long-term compound growth)
A Security & Peace of Mind Angle (best for risk-averse people)
focusing on stability, protection, and reassurance without using corporate jargon.
Future Reserve (sounds secure, premium, and intentional)
Life Cushion (evokes comfort and a soft landing)
My Tomorrow Fund (friendly, simple, and forward-looking)
A Goal-Oriented Angle (best for visual thinkers) connecting the money directly to what it actually pays for, taking the focus off an abstract financial product.
Chapter Two Wealth (frames retirement as a fresh start)
My Horizon Pot (focuses on looking forward to a brighter future)
Next-Page Fund (sounds active, sequential, and progress-driven)
To make any rebranding stick, change how the mechanics are described:
Replace “contributions” with “deposits” or “investments”
Replace “retirement age” with “freedom date”
Replace “pension provider” with “wealth manager”
To reset and rebrand pensions for Generation Z, shift from selling “retirement income” to selling freedom, flexibility, and values-aligned control—with Gen Z’s lived realities (precarity, gig work, ethical priorities, housing/debt pressures) at the centre.
“Future Flex”?
Thank you, I will put Shakespeare through AI to check if it can improve him
I agree that Artificial Intelligence cannot “improve” upon Shakespeare’s creative genius or emotional depth, as it lacks human experience.
AI may, however, be highly effective at analysing the Bard’s work, translating archaic language into modern prose, and assisting we lesser humans with structural formatting and brainstorming.
That’s “assisting us lesser humans”.