Peter Best is a highly knowledgeable and experienced paraplanner with many years in our profession under his belt. He recently finished his MSc, which he says has been a huge milestone. As part of his MSc, he conducted research into why younger clients aren’t planning for retirement and in this article, he shares some insights from the qualitative research he carried out and more importantly – what paraplanners can do about it.
Despite automatic enrolment and near-constant messaging about the importance of pensions, many younger clients remain poorly engaged with retirement planning. As paraplanners, we encounter this frequently in practice: small workplace pensions accumulated across multiple employments, limited understanding of contribution levels or investment choices, and a prevailing sense that retirement is something to address “later on”.
From the outside, this behaviour can appear apathetic or indifferent. However, as part of my MSc research, I conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with individuals aged 18–35 to explore why disengagement persists, and why professional financial advice is often avoided at this stage of life. What emerged was not a lack of concern, but a far more nuanced picture, one that offers meaningful insights for paraplanners and advisers alike.
It’s not that younger people don’t care
One of the clearest findings from the research was that younger adults are not indifferent to retirement. Many expressed genuine concern about their long-term financial security, particularly in the context of uncertainty around the State Pension, housing affordability, and the rising cost of living.
However, this concern was frequently accompanied by anxiety, confusion, and a sense of being overwhelmed. Retirement planning was described using phrases such as “daunting”, “a massive task”, and “something I wouldn’t know where to start with”. For some participants, even opening pension statements triggered discomfort rather than reassurance.
From a paraplanning perspective, this distinction matters. What can look like disengagement is often emotional avoidance. Clients recognise that retirement is important, but the subject feels complex, abstract, and emotionally loaded, so it is pushed aside in favour of more immediate priorities.
Planning vs saving: a critical misunderstanding
A consistent theme across interviews was confusion between saving for retirement and having a plan for retirement. Most participants believed that paying into a workplace pension meant they were “doing the right thing”, despite having little idea how much they had accumulated, whether it was sufficient, or how it might eventually translate into income.
This distinction is second nature to paraplanners, but it clearly isn’t for many clients. For younger individuals, having a pension is often equated with having a plan. That false sense of security can delay meaningful engagement for years, sometimes decades.
This is where paraplanners add significant value. Early-stage cash-flow modelling, pension consolidation analysis, and simple scenario planning can help bridge the gap between passive saving and active planning, often without the need for complex or intrusive recommendations. These early interventions can reshape how clients perceive their pension, moving it from a vague future asset to something tangible and understandable.
Cost isn’t the whole story, perception of cost is
Cost was frequently cited as a barrier to advice, but interestingly, most participants had never actually spoken to a financial adviser, or knew what the actual cost would be. Their views were shaped by assumptions, anecdotes, or cultural perceptions that advice is:
- expensive,
- only relevant for wealthy people, or
- something to consider much later in life.
This highlights an important point for paraplanners and firms alike: perception matters as much as price. Many people simply don’t understand what advice involves, what it costs, or what value it provides, particularly at the early stages of their financial lives.
Behind the scenes, paraplanners play a central role in shaping how advice is communicated and perceived. Clear summaries, transparent projections, and plain-English explanations all help demystify the advice process and reduce perceived barriers. Well-presented modelling can make the value of advice visible long before a client feels ready to commit to it.
Trust, familiarity, and informality
Trust also played a significant role in advice avoidance. Many participants said they would turn first to parents, family members, or friends before considering a financial professional. Even when informal advice was recognised as potentially flawed or outdated, it felt safer and less intimidating.
This preference for familiarity suggests that trust in financial professionals has not been established in younger people. For paraplanners, this reinforces the importance of consistency, clarity, and tone throughout the advice journey. When advice is communicated clearly and supported by reports that are easy to understand, clients are more likely not only to engage with the advice themselves, but also to share positive experiences with others — encouraging peers to seek advice in turn.
This trust-building process can be supported through well-structured reports, transparent modelling, and close alignment between adviser conversations and written outputs. Together, these elements help build confidence and credibility over time, even where the paraplanner never meets the client directly.
What does this mean for paraplanners?
From a practical perspective, the findings point to several key takeaways.
Early engagement doesn’t have to be complex
Younger clients don’t need a 40-page suitability report to get started. What they often need first is clarity, reassurance, and a sense that retirement planning is manageable. Paraplanners can support advisers by providing simplified modelling, high-level projections, and clear explanations that lower emotional barriers to engagement.
Language really matters
Terms we use every day, crystallisation, drawdown, lifetime allowance (or LSA/LSDBA), sequence risk, can feel alienating to clients. Translating technical complexity into accessible language is one of the paraplanner’s greatest strengths and a critical part of client engagement.
Education is part of advice
The research reinforces that advice isn’t just about recommendations; it’s about understanding. Helping clients grasp why something matters is often just as important as telling them what to do. Paraplanners are central to shaping how that understanding is delivered.
A final thought
This research began as an academic exercise, but its conclusions are firmly rooted in day-to-day practice. Younger clients aren’t disengaged because they don’t care; they’re disengaged because retirement planning feels complex, distant, and emotionally overwhelming.
Paraplanners are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap through clear explanation, robust modelling, and strong support for advisers. When retirement planning is presented as understandable and relevant, rather than technical or intimidating, younger clients may be significantly more open to engaging with professional advice.
Main image: emmanuel-offei-bOrjvtn7aY0-unsplash
