Love Actually is, hands down, my favourite movie of all time. It’s clever, witty, happy, sad and uplifting all at the same time. It’s set in the run up to Christmas and I watch it every December (but also in February and July and….!). And because of Love Actually, I’ve been a fan of Richard Curtis, it’s screenwriter, for many years. Although I must say, I never quite forgave Alan Rickman for cheating on Emma Thompson…...

Richard Curtis is also well known for co-writing sitcoms such as Blackadder and I wondered how Blackadder might have approached the issue of pensions and what “cunning plan” young Baldrick might have come up with to solve the issue of lack of engagement in pensions.

I smiled to myself when I reflected on the launch of the Make My Money Matter campaign which is backed by Richard Curtis as well as a range of other prominent figures including Mark Carney, former Governor of the Bank of England. So is their plan “as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University”?

“Make my money matter”. You can really imagine people saying that, can’t you?

Recent research

Research from a range of organisations in 2020 has shown that, when prompted, people increasingly start to think about where their pension savings are invested. I acknowledge that we’re starting from a low base. According to research from the Defined Contribution Investment Forum, currently most people don’t know that their money is even invested, let alone where. They see money come off their salary every month and assume it goes into some amorphous pot with the company, potentially never to be seen again.

But when we start to tell them where their money is invested – and what their fund managers are doing with their money – they suddenly become a lot more interested. If we can start to build on this, we can perhaps start to achieve real member engagement after all.

Interestingly, many of the recent surveys suggested that it’s not just young people who are interested in responsible investment issues, but people across all ages. Their areas of focus do vary; younger generations are generally most interested in climate change and older generations are more engaged with social issues.

At the moment, there’s lots of good content on provider and fund manager websites on ESG matters. But the key word there is “lots”. And the words we use tend to be technical; the term ESG itself means nothing to anyone outside our industry. Most members don’t want to (or have time to) trail through lots of information to hear what their money is doing. They want a short, sharp summary (see my previous blog for my Bulb analogy) of the good their money is doing.

A step in the right direction

Technology will also have a part to play in this in the future. I’ve been hugely impressed by Tumelo, a fintech company. Tumelo are working with platform providers and large pension schemes to offer a dashboard to pension scheme members. The dashboard will give members the chance not only to view the underlying stocks that their pension savings are invested in but also to register their vote on some of the key ESG issues that matter to them. Within the app, which is easy to negotiate and tailored to the member’s investments, the arguments are well set out both for and against motions. People are then encouraged to show their support or otherwise of the companies’ proposals – these could be in areas such as climate change policies, diversity on boards or the way in which staff are rewarded.

While members’ votes will not actually register directly at the AGM (this role remains with the fund manager), the managers can see the strength of feeling amongst their unit holders on specific topics. It also gives members the chance to actively engage in the topics that are of most interest to them. Even if they only make it to the first screen to see where their money is invested, surely that’s a step in the right direction.

Richard Curtis has a knack of making people feel good and positive at the end of his movies. If he, and the rest of us, can do this for our pension scheme members, we’ll all have done a good job!

Check out our recent webinar with Make My Money Matter and Tumelo where we shared latest market insights and ways in which you can use Responsible Investment to engage with your DC members.