Interview – NOW: Pensions
INTERVIEW – EMMA MATTHEWS
“The investment strategy should not favour one set of market conditions over another.”
The head of investment at NOW: Pensions tells Mona Dohle about championing change, why a lack of options is the best option, keeping taxi drivers happy and inflation-friendly assets.
You joined NOW: Pensions in March. How have the first three months been? It has flown by and has been great. Now that the Covid restrictions have been relaxed, I have been able to meet many of my colleagues in our London and Not- tingham offices.
Starting a new role and seeing if it will match your expectations is always a little daunting. One of the attractions of join- ing NOW: Pensions is the work it has done on closing the gender pensions gap. It’s an organisation that is championing change. It has been heart-warming to meet my colleagues behind this work and
14 | portfolio institutional | July–August 2022 | issue 115
seeing their passion for the campaign. Our report on the gender pensions gap was published in early June and the work that has gone into it has been fantastic. It is probably shocking to most that women need to start saving from the age of four to have a pension that is worth the same as the average man at retirement. It brings home the cumulative impact of taking periods away from the workplace, such as for childcare.
Does this mean that women need to follow a different investment strategy? When looking at the issue we not only
consider member outcomes but also the journey to retirement, where the default investment strategy is set to be resilient to different market conditions. We also believe the issue is larger than this, which is why we have five policy pro- posals that set out what can be done to help close the gender pensions gap. Whether you are male, female or part of the under-pensioned population, there could be periods in your life where you are not working and therefore not con- tributing towards a pension. Ideally, the investment strategy should not favour one set of market conditions
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