The financial industry needs to start delivering basic, positive messages that will help motivate consumers to pay attention to their financial needs says a British consumer advocacy group.
Speaking at an industry conference Wednesday, Adam Phillips, chair of the UK Financial Services Consumer Panel, called on the industry to produce simple, straightforward messages to help get consumers thinking about their insurance and savings needs.
Phillips said that the panel is concerned that millions of British consumers lack appropriate savings, and don’t realize how much they will need to save to ensure a decent income in retirement. These individuals need access to advice that tells them what they need to know and products that deliver the right outcome, he noted.
With that in mind, he called on the financial industry to develop simple messages similar to the food industry’s “five portions of fruit and vegetables a day” to encourage better financial health.
He noted that messages that aim to scare people about the threat of impoverished retirements are likely to put people off, and continue ignoring the problem. More positive, productive messages may be more effective at encouraging better behaviour, he said. These messages need to cover managing short and long term savings, credit, and insurance, with simple memorable rules of thumb, he suggested.