Digital, independent financial advice and guidance

The aim from the start was to change the way employees feel about their pension and retirement. Wealth Wizards Advisers wanted to encourage employees to contribute more towards their pension as well as feel in control of their finances.

Increasingly, HR teams are concerned that despite their best efforts, employees aren’t saving enough for retirement. Our research has found that 56% of those asked wish they’d have saved more into their pension when they were younger. Many people find pensions complicated and confusing, and as a result don’t engage with them. They risk not being able to fund their retirement and might be forced to remain working far longer than they wish to. On the contrary, those that do understand and value their workplace pension tend to be more engaged at work and value their overall benefits package more.

Pension Wizard was first rolled out in 2015 giving people the ability to get independent advice on the investments within their workplace pension. The tool takes the user through a fact find to discover their risk profile and build a tailored portfolio that fits their individual needs. What many people don't realise is that their workplace pension is put automatically in the 'default fund' which doesn’t take into account someone’s individual circumstances such as attitude to risk or investment goals. A personalised fund is more suited to an individual’s own circumstances. Every year, the user checks in with Pension Wizard to update their attitude to risk and get their pension funds re-balanced.

In 2016, Pension Wizard gained a new feature, this time giving advice on a person's contributions to their pension. The user answers a few simple questions to determine their affordability. They are then able to see what effect changing their contribution level, age of retirement and retirement income goal has on their retirement. At the click of a button, they can accept the advice and their employer automatically gets notified about the changes.

Many employees aren't aware that they aren't taking advantage of their employer's contribution matching. If an employee isn’t making the most of the extra contributions they can get from their employer, they are notified as soon as they begin the journey and encouraged to see the effect of increasing their pension contributions.

Benefits

Digital journey: Advice journey completed online, no need for human intervention except in exceptional cases.

Improved financial situations: Users gained more understanding of their pension and many have gained a better retirement outcome as a result of using Pension Wizard.

Personalisation: Employees were able to appreciate the difference between the default pension fund and a personalised pension fund.

Accessibility: by automating financial advice, it is now available to people who would not normally have been able to afford it.