If you ask any young person about pensions, they’ll either cry or laugh in your face. With the current economic landscape, retirement feels like an alien concept. Issues like the cost-of-living crisis and housing concerns are more top of mind for many young people. With the projected state pension age of 68 for those currently in their 20s, it’s hard to blame them for not wanting to ignore the future.

This isn’t just new world cynicism either. According to research from Royal London, around a third of young people in employment believe that state pensions won’t exist by the time they retire while half believe it will be less generous by the time they do. Among savers, ‘milestone planning’ was the top reported savings priority for young people, with half of 18 to 25-year-olds (51%) saying they are saving to buy a property, get married, or similar life events.

With other more pressing future planning taking priority, young people can be completely paralysed in their decision-making, with a People Management survey from 2022 finding that more than a fifth of working 18–24-year-olds were not aware of how much their pension was worth. Almost a quarter (24%) didn’t know how much they would need for a comfortable retirement. The overall attitude appears to be “we won’t get to retire so why bother trying.”

What stands pension comms out from other types of internal communications is that they need to address issues that might arise up to forty years into the future. More than this, they need to make these future-facing issues relevant to everyday habit.

Through tools like Aviva’s compound interest calculator, even monthly savings can have long-term benefits. Something as small as saving the same amount as a few coffees a week can double your contributions over 30 years. This understanding of pensions isn’t entirely new but your pension comms need to connect the dots as much as possible to stoke action.

For example, those relying solely on state pension should know that the current rate of around £9,600 is only enough to afford the essential needs, below the ‘minimum level’ of retirement income of £10,900 a year. Mapping out your pension in terms of the day-to-day of your retirement creates a clearer connection to your actions now to what you’ll do in your 60’s.

Pragmatic and direct comms foster a sense of self-sufficiency that will be vital for long-term financial planning. These traits can endure through all kinds of circumstances because individuals can see their own impact. For younger people thinking about their pensions, they’ll often find that time is on their side when they start developing positive saving habits.

External factors will always cast doubt in young peoples’ minds, particularly with pension plans, but solutions to these problems never came from assuming that you were too far gone to be helped. Positive transparent communications aid decision making whilst simultaneously demonstrating how organisations can support their people.