Three Cheers for Regret: Another Industry Revelation That Isn't

It is, one imagines, with a tremulous quill and furrowed brow that the nation’s pension experts drafted yet another ‘wake-up call’ for the financially uninitiated. Aviva, in their infinite concern for the citizenry, commissioned a survey of over-50s to uncover the unsurprising truth that some of them – quelle horreur – wish they'd started saving for retirement earlier.

“Over a fifth regret a late start to pension saving,” trumpets the headline, the subtext dripping with a kind of mournful vindication. See, the industry sighs, if only more had listened. If only more product had been sold—sorry, taken seriously.

Yet scratch the surface, and the narrative begins to wilt under its own melodrama. For if just over a fifth express regret, then, by some curious twist of mathematics, just under four-fifths do not. A ratio which, by any measure of sentiment, would suggest widespread contentment. But in the enchanted world of financial services press releases, 22% constitutes a crisis, while 78% is apparently not worth mentioning.

Indeed, the retrospective wisdom of the over-50s—dished up like so many fortune cookies—tells a different story altogether. Their top financial tips to their younger selves include, in order of frequency: clear your debts (54%), build an emergency fund (53%), and yes, pay into a pension (52%). One wonders what Aviva made of the fact that pensions came third.

One also wonders whether the headline might more accurately have read: Over half of over-50s warn against debt; pension savings a secondary concern. But such nuance rarely moves product.

Then there is the curious juxtaposition of remorse and resilience. One in six, we’re told, carry credit card debt into retirement. Seven percent still have a mortgage. Yet, again, this implies that five in six do not; a commendable outcome in any financial planner’s book.

There’s little mention of those who did plan adequately, who weathered the storms of inflation, redundancy, and tuition fees, and still emerged from the fray more or less intact. Their quiet competence, alas, does not help drive new business.

We are also treated to the revelation that 41% would advise against spending excessively on weddings—a rare moment of lucidity in a survey otherwise engineered to shepherd the reader back toward pension products. And while it is no doubt sensible advice, it is unclear how trimming the guest list and eschewing swan-shaped ice sculptures is meant to significantly affect the average pension pot.

Enter, stage left, Alistair McQueen, Aviva’s Head of Savings and Retirement, bearing the solemn pronouncement that planning for retirement is important and difficult and best done early. One can almost hear the violins swell behind him. The problem, you see, is that youth is wasted on the young and disposable income is tragically scarce in one’s twenties.

But not to worry—Aviva is here, ever ready to help you convert what little you have into a tidy commissionable flow.

In truth, the data might have been used to tell a more empowering story. That most people get by. That many have few regrets. That real-world financial experience—trial, error, adaptation—remains the most honest tutor of all. But that would not do. Far better, it seems, to use a sliver of regret to cast a long shadow of guilt, and to sell a narrative of missed opportunity in the hope of monetising the fear.

And so the industry presses on—its headlines lamenting problems that do not quite exist, its surveys weaponised in pursuit of ever earlier, ever deeper financial entanglement. All under the banner of helping people to plan.

God save the over-50s.