5 hacks to help your employees achieve their savings goals
With the dark and cold days of winter in full swing, and persistent cost-of-living pressures continuing to challenge many across the UK, this time of year could feel particularly difficult for some of your employees.
According to Standard Life’s latest Retirement Voice research, 45% of people say the cost of living has affected their mental health or made them more stressed.
Meanwhile, only 28% say they’re living ‘comfortably’ and over two-thirds of people are worried about energy costs (69%) and inflation (66%).
Taking small, actionable steps to review and plan their finances could help employees ease anxiety and set them on a path toward greater financial confidence.
The research reveals that those who do a great deal of financial planning are more than twice as likely to feel good about their money than those who do nothing (68% vs. 30%).
The long winter nights ahead could be the perfect time for employees to plan their finances and set achievable savings goals for the year – whilst helping to banish those winter blues in the process.
Here are some tips to get help them get started.
1. Get support with debt
If any of your employees are worried about debt, consider signposting to resources like MoneyHelper, which can offer free and practical guidance.
It can provide a great starting point to help employees identify which debts to tackle first, explore repayment options, and connect with professional advisors.
2. Review the household budget
Creating a realistic budget could help your employees prioritise essential spending and spot any opportunities to save.
With relatively high interest rates and energy costs still impacting many households across the UK, it’s a good idea for employees to regularly review their budget to check it’s still working for them.
Budgeting tools, such as those provided by MoneyHelper, can help employees break down and prioritise their spending.
Standard Life workplace pension scheme members can also use its Budget Planner, available through its Money Mindset platform, to help them see where their money’s going, analyse their spending, and create budgets.
3. Set savings goals
Setting clear savings goals can help employees feel more confident about their finances. They could start by building an emergency fund to cover unexpected costs like car repairs or a broken boiler.
If you’re with Standard Life for your workplace pension scheme, your employees can use its Money Mindset platform to create an emergency cash pot, where they can set aside money for a rainy day.
Once they’ve built up this buffer, they could consider creating longer-term financial goals, such as saving for a house deposit or a big holiday.
4. Locate lost pensions
With job changes becoming more common, it’s easy for people to lose track of their pensions.
You can help employees locate lost pension pots by signposting them to resources such as the Government’s Pension Tracing Service.
Standard Life workplace pension scheme members can also use its Pension Finder tool, available through Money Mindset.
This scans their employment history on LinkedIn to automatically search the Pension Tracing Service, for a quick and easy way to find old pensions.
Once employees have found everything, they might want to consider bringing all their pensions together into one pot.
This could reduce admin and make it easier to manage. This won't be right for everyone, though.
Employees could lose money by giving up any guarantees or benefits they might get from other pension plans, so it’s important that they check this first.
5. Harness online planning tools
Insights from Standrad Life's Retirement Voice 2024 research reveal that more than half (51%) of people are worried they’re not saving enough now for when they’re older.
Online tools and calculators can help your employees see if they’re on track for the retirement they want.
For instance, pension calculators estimate an employee’s future savings based on their current contributions, giving them a clearer picture of what they might need to adjust.
Standard Life's Retirement Income Tool, available through its mobile app, can help employees see how their retirement lifestyle is shaping up.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Standard Life
Standard Life are part of Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business. We both share an aligned ambition to help every customer enjoy a life full of possibilities.
