Abundance's research shows that despite 88% of adults believing that it is their responsibility to fund their retirement, only 63% have some form of pension in place.
47% of people say they are concerned about the effects of global stock market shocks on their pension, and 44% are interested in pension options that reduce their exposure to the global markets.
A third of people (33%) worry about where their pension funds are invested, with just 14% believing their pension provider is very transparent in this area, while 21% of people would invest more in their pension if they knew exactly where the funds were being invested.
The Abundance Pension hopes to encourage many people to start investing towards their retirement for the first time, to increase the amount they are investing or to move some of their existing investment to the Abundance Pension to achieve greater diversity of risk.
All of Abundance’s open existing and future projects, offered to investors via tradable Debentures from individual UK PLC’s producing renewable energy, will be eligible for inclusion in the product where they will attract full pension tax advantages and full pension freedoms at age 55.
The Abundance Pension is being offered through SIPP providers European Pensions Management Ltd.
Bruce Davis, cofounder and joint MD of Abundance, said:
“We hope that this new product’s unique combination of tax relief, the diversified and uncorrelated nature of our Debentures, and the steady and attractive returns they pay from investments matching our customers’ values will make the product a significant new motivation for many people to save more towards their retirement.”
“Finally they will have easy and direct access to choose between diverse investment assets, all with a social or environmental benefit, and all paying consistent, strong and uncorrelated returns within a tax-advantaged pension wrapper.
“The Abundance Pension launch is also a useful precursor to the arrival of the Innovative Finance ISA next year, which we also plan to offer. If anyone had any doubts as to how competitive and effective an ‘IFISA’ is likely to be, the Abundance Pension provides a very promising indication.”
