Older people will go online, research finds

A survey by pensions administration specialist Trafalgar House has found that older pension fund members are prepared to go online for communications related to their pensions.

Trafalgar House director, Daniel Taylor, commented: “Investment decisions for the pensions industry are being hampered by incorrect assumptions about member enthusiasm for adopting these technologies. According to our latest research, we found that 76% of members are happy to go paperless and, contrary to perception, 65% of over 55’s are also willing to switch to online communications.” Taylor said that these findings contradict the assumption that older age groups will not embrace digital technology. As a result, he said that with the right guidance, members will be willing to switch to more flexible and personal digital methods.

Another surprising finding, Taylor said, was that 43% of under 35’s said that they don’t know how to access their pension online. “Our research shows that making the assumption that young people prefer online to paper, and simply directing younger members to online platforms without proper guidance and encouragement will backfire.” He added that the survey results showed that pension funds need to engage with their members over their communications preferences and not to use age alone as a tool for segmenting communication strategies.