Latest / A Little Bit Richer / The Power of Your Pension

Transcript

The Power of Your Pension · A Little Bit Richer

• 0:02
  Iona Bain: Hello, I am Iona Bain, and welcome to another episode
• 0:05
  Iona Bain: of A Little Bit Richer. Today we're going to find
• 0:08
  Iona Bain: out what happens to the money you invest into your
• 0:10
  Iona Bain: pension. Where does this money get invested so that it
• 0:13
  Iona Bain: grows for your retirement? And how is some of that
• 0:15
  Iona Bain: money being used for a greater benefit, not just for
• 0:18
  Iona Bain: us, but our community too? From regeneration projects with the
• 0:21
  Iona Bain: local council, youth health technologies, and affordable housing, there are
• 0:25
  Iona Bain: many tangible ways our pension money can be used to
• 0:28
  Iona Bain: help build better and healthier communities for generations to come.
• 0:32
  Iona Bain: Here with me to discuss all this is Pete Gladwell,
• 0:35
  Iona Bain: who oversees social impact investment decisions at Legal & General. Now,
• 0:40
  Iona Bain: as part of his role, he works with local councils,
• 0:42
  Iona Bain: government, universities, and their advisors to decide where money saved
• 0:46
  Iona Bain: into people's pensions can be used for wider benefit. Welcome, Pete.
• 0:52
  Pete Gladwell: Thanks, good to be here.
• 0:53
  Iona Bain: So let's start with the basics. What happens to the
• 0:57
  Iona Bain: money that I put into my pension?
• 0:59
  Pete Gladwell: Well, typically what happens is that money is brought together
• 1:03
  Pete Gladwell: with millions of other people's pensions and it's invested into
• 1:06
  Pete Gladwell: funds. And that can be very simply invested into buying
• 1:10
  Pete Gladwell: shares in the biggest companies in the UK, the FTSE 100,
• 1:14
  Pete Gladwell: so the 100 biggest companies in the UK. Or it
• 1:16
  Pete Gladwell: could be invested in lending to the government, government bonds.
• 1:19
  Pete Gladwell: Or it could be invested into things that are a
• 1:22
  Pete Gladwell: bit more beneficial to society, and I think that's one of the
• 1:25
  Pete Gladwell: things we're going to talk about today.
• 1:26
  Iona Bain: Okay. So my pension money is being invested in all
• 1:29
  Iona Bain: sorts of stuff, including stuff that is out there in
• 1:32
  Iona Bain: the world doing positive things. And that's where social impact
• 1:35
  Iona Bain: investing comes in.
• 1:37
  Pete Gladwell: Yes.
• 1:37
  Iona Bain: Break that down for me. What does that mean?
• 1:39
  Pete Gladwell: So I think first and foremost, we've got to remember
• 1:42
  Pete Gladwell: that pensions need to be a source of financial security.
• 1:46
  Pete Gladwell: So social impact investment isn't about giving your money away
• 1:49
  Pete Gladwell: to good causes. It's not a charitable thing, but it
• 1:52
  Pete Gladwell: is recognising that your pension can be a source of
• 1:55
  Pete Gladwell: financial empowerment for you, but it can also empower other
• 1:58
  Pete Gladwell: people. It can change people's lives for better. It can
• 2:01
  Pete Gladwell: change towns, cities, even drive whole countries' economies to greater
• 2:06
  Pete Gladwell: success. And so-
• 2:07
  Iona Bain: Because it's such a massive amount of money that we're
• 2:09
  Iona Bain: talking about here.
• 2:11
  Pete Gladwell: Exactly. You're talking about tens of billions of pounds. And
• 2:14
  Pete Gladwell: when your pension is brought together with everyone else's pensions,
• 2:17
  Pete Gladwell: that can be a real force for good in society.
• 2:20
  Pete Gladwell: As I say, it's also about making a really strong
• 2:21
  Pete Gladwell: financial return, but it's trying to get that flow of
• 2:24
  Pete Gladwell: money going back to improve people's lives as well.
• 2:26
  Iona Bain: Sounds fantastic, but how does this actually work in real
• 2:30
  Iona Bain: life? Hit me with some examples, Pete. What can you
• 2:33
  Iona Bain: bring to the table that shows that this actually can work?
• 2:36
  Pete Gladwell: So this isn't just something that Legal & General does. It's
• 2:38
  Pete Gladwell: really important to say it's something that lots of pension
• 2:41
  Pete Gladwell: providers and managers are trying to do more of. But
• 2:43
  Pete Gladwell: at L& G it's something we're really passionate about. So
• 2:46
  Pete Gladwell: even 11 years ago, we invested in 4, 000 affordable
• 2:49
  Pete Gladwell: homes, and that provides safe, secure, affordable housing for people,
• 2:53
  Pete Gladwell: obviously improving their quality of life. But it also provides
• 2:57
  Pete Gladwell: really strong stable income that we can use to pay
• 3:00
  Pete Gladwell: people's pensions and provide that financial security for people. Then
• 3:03
  Pete Gladwell: you've got big city centre regeneration schemes, where there can
• 3:07
  Pete Gladwell: be whole areas of towns or cities that haven't had
• 3:10
  Pete Gladwell: the investment they need for decades in many cases. We're
• 3:13
  Pete Gladwell: looking at how we can reinvest people's pensions and savings
• 3:16
  Pete Gladwell: back into those places to create economic growth, but also
• 3:20
  Pete Gladwell: meet the needs for that city in this decade, which
• 3:23
  Pete Gladwell: will be very different to what they were 20, 30, 40 years ago.
• 3:26
  Iona Bain: So how do you assess what projects to take on,
• 3:30
  Iona Bain: and how do you pull together the partnerships to make
• 3:33
  Iona Bain: these happen?
• 3:34
  Pete Gladwell: That's the kind of secret sauce, that's the difficult bit.
• 3:37
  Pete Gladwell: Because you can't really do it just sat in an
• 3:39
  Pete Gladwell: office in the city in London and think somehow I'm
• 3:41
  Pete Gladwell: going to know what needs to be invested into in
• 3:44
  Pete Gladwell: Sunderland, so yeah.
• 3:44
  Iona Bain: Yeah. I can imagine that a lot of people have to be involved in that decision- making process.
• 3:49
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah, absolutely. So that's why it's really important to spend
• 3:52
  Pete Gladwell: a lot of time engaged with local communities, local authorities
• 3:55
  Pete Gladwell: in particular often, really good guides as to what the
• 3:58
  Pete Gladwell: place needs. They will have understood what could really drive
• 4:01
  Pete Gladwell: local economic growth. What's the need? Is it affordable housing?
• 4:04
  Pete Gladwell: Is it housing for rent or is it housing for
• 4:06
  Pete Gladwell: key workers? Often people like a local authority or a combined
• 4:09
  Pete Gladwell: authority will have a good picture of that. And then,
• 4:12
  Pete Gladwell: as you say, it's about creating the right partnerships that
• 4:15
  Pete Gladwell: enable pensions to be invested to meet that need locally.
• 4:18
  Iona Bain: Can we just dig a little bit more into what
• 4:21
  Iona Bain: that looks like, who else you might be partnering up
• 4:24
  Iona Bain: with to make these kind of projects happen?
• 4:26
  Pete Gladwell: That really depends on the need locally and once we've
• 4:31
  Pete Gladwell: worked with community groups or local authority or combined authority
• 4:34
  Pete Gladwell: to understand the need. Sometimes it will be a local
• 4:38
  Pete Gladwell: developer. For example, Cardiff is a city where Legal & General,
• 4:42
  Pete Gladwell: for example, has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in
• 4:45
  Pete Gladwell: a partnership with a local developer. But sometimes it will
• 4:48
  Pete Gladwell: be working with local businesses. For example, we own a
• 4:51
  Pete Gladwell: lot at the centre of Poole and we've been working
• 4:54
  Pete Gladwell: very closely with local businesses there. We've been providing them
• 4:57
  Pete Gladwell: with space so that they can grow and really bring
• 4:59
  Pete Gladwell: vibrancy to that high street. It's just really important to
• 5:02
  Pete Gladwell: stress that makes it a more attractive financial investment for
• 5:05
  Pete Gladwell: us because we've got more people in that high street.
• 5:07
  Pete Gladwell: It's more vibrant. We're working with the local NHS trust
• 5:10
  Pete Gladwell: to provide better primary healthcare there, but it also meets
• 5:14
  Pete Gladwell: the needs of the local community and is working with those
• 5:16
  Pete Gladwell: partnerships. And so, those are L& G examples. As I
• 5:18
  Pete Gladwell: say, other investors and providers will have other examples, but
• 5:22
  Pete Gladwell: it's that working with the right type of partners to
• 5:25
  Pete Gladwell: meet that need to create the social impact that we
• 5:28
  Pete Gladwell: want to have.
• 5:28
  Iona Bain: How do you help the community have that sense of
• 5:32
  Iona Bain: ownership and not feel that something is being imposed on
• 5:35
  Iona Bain: them without their say so?
• 5:37
  Pete Gladwell: First and foremost, I've got to say I'm a big
• 5:39
  Pete Gladwell: believer in local democracy, so we will very purposefully and
• 5:43
  Pete Gladwell: intentionally engage with local leaders and politicians. But it's really
• 5:47
  Pete Gladwell: important to understand the breadth of lived experience and views
• 5:50
  Pete Gladwell: within different communities. And so, that can be anything from
• 5:54
  Pete Gladwell: going out knocking on doors to going and doing exhibitions
• 5:58
  Pete Gladwell: in kind of the local hole, or even using a
• 6:01
  Pete Gladwell: lot of tech. Now we can use tech platforms to
• 6:04
  Pete Gladwell: engage in different languages so that when local people are
• 6:07
  Pete Gladwell: browsing a social media platform, they have the opportunity to
• 6:10
  Pete Gladwell: engage with what we're thinking about the local regeneration scheme.
• 6:14
  Pete Gladwell: And again, we're trying to make sure that it's not
• 6:16
  Pete Gladwell: just about any kind of tokenism.
• 6:18
  Iona Bain: Yeah, I can imagine there is a big difference between
• 6:20
  Iona Bain: just ticking that box and saying, " Yep, we had an
• 6:23
  Iona Bain: event in the community and that's it, job done." But
• 6:26
  Iona Bain: actually getting people to buy into it and feel excited
• 6:29
  Iona Bain: about it and feel like they want it in their
• 6:31
  Iona Bain: area, that is the true measure of success.
• 6:33
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah.
• 6:34
  Iona Bain: That's good to know. So you've spoken about how this
• 6:37
  Iona Bain: isn't charity, this isn't just doing nice things for the
• 6:40
  Iona Bain: community. This is about also bringing in an income for
• 6:44
  Iona Bain: pension scheme members. How do you ensure that these are
• 6:48
  Iona Bain: actually solid investments for people's pensions?
• 6:51
  Pete Gladwell: That's the fundamental point of the job, is to cross
• 6:54
  Pete Gladwell: those double hurdles. But it's tempting to think of the
• 6:57
  Pete Gladwell: two as competing and as to think, " Well, we are
• 7:00
  Pete Gladwell: either doing as much good as we can or we're
• 7:03
  Pete Gladwell: choosing to make us a long- term financial return." And
• 7:06
  Pete Gladwell: actually, if you find the right projects to meet that
• 7:09
  Pete Gladwell: need, to be the investor in that project, you can
• 7:12
  Pete Gladwell: see both achieved. So for example, I mentioned affordable homes
• 7:15
  Pete Gladwell: earlier. That can be a really exciting investment for someone
• 7:20
  Pete Gladwell: who's looking for a long- term stable income, because we
• 7:24
  Pete Gladwell: know that there will be a long- term enduring need
• 7:26
  Pete Gladwell: for affordable housing in many regions around the country. Now
• 7:30
  Pete Gladwell: that's great if you want a long- term stable income.
• 7:31
  Pete Gladwell: But actually on the other hand, let's say you're looking
• 7:34
  Pete Gladwell: for shorter- term returns. We do a lot of work
• 7:36
  Pete Gladwell: with universities, for example, and they have some really exciting
• 7:39
  Pete Gladwell: startups that might be new health technology companies. So you're
• 7:43
  Pete Gladwell: investing in a company. It's probably going to mean in the next
• 7:46
  Pete Gladwell: few years whether you find out whether it's a real
• 7:48
  Pete Gladwell: success or not. It's the same principle where you're identifying
• 7:50
  Pete Gladwell: that company could meet a real need in society. That
• 7:53
  Pete Gladwell: health tech company is doing something really innovative that could
• 7:57
  Pete Gladwell: improve thousands if not millions of people's lives. So we're
• 8:00
  Pete Gladwell: going to invest pensions and savings in that health tech company.
• 8:03
  Pete Gladwell: It's higher risk, it's shorter term, it's a different type
• 8:05
  Pete Gladwell: of return from investing in affordable housing, but it can
• 8:08
  Pete Gladwell: generate a really powerful social impact. Does that make sense?
• 8:11
  Iona Bain: That makes total sense.
• 8:11
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah.
• 8:11
  Iona Bain: And actually, it's really interesting that this isn't just about
• 8:14
  Iona Bain: solid worthy projects. It's also actually about anticipating what we
• 8:20
  Iona Bain: will all need in the future.
• 8:21
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah. It comes out of a partnership we have with a university; then
• 8:25
  Pete Gladwell: we can really understand the exciting technology that's coming out
• 8:28
  Pete Gladwell: that could benefit society and start to invest in those
• 8:30
  Pete Gladwell: startups again. So it is about getting away from the
• 8:33
  Pete Gladwell: desk and building those partnerships to understand the social need better.
• 8:36
  Iona Bain: So how do you track and monitor the progress and
• 8:39
  Iona Bain: the impact of these investments? What targets do you have
• 8:43
  Iona Bain: for these kinds of projects?
• 8:45
  Pete Gladwell: What we try to work through is a really clear
• 8:47
  Pete Gladwell: theory of change, we call it. So how is this
• 8:49
  Pete Gladwell: investment going to make a difference in society or in
• 8:52
  Pete Gladwell: someone's life or in a place?
• 8:54
  Iona Bain: And this is known as theory of change.
• 8:56
  Pete Gladwell: Yes. How does the money translate to the impact and
• 8:59
  Pete Gladwell: the outcomes, often social but sometimes environmental outcomes, that we
• 9:03
  Pete Gladwell: want our investment to deliver. Just to pick an example
• 9:06
  Pete Gladwell: of one we've done, when we worked with Newcastle City
• 9:09
  Pete Gladwell: Council and University, we invested tens of millions of pounds
• 9:12
  Pete Gladwell: in the centre of Newcastle to create this really exciting
• 9:15
  Pete Gladwell: startup space for spin- outs coming out of the university.
• 9:18
  Pete Gladwell: And it's a whole ecosystem there. But we worked with
• 9:20
  Pete Gladwell: them really closely to understand what would success look like
• 9:23
  Pete Gladwell: if we invested tens of millions of pounds into that
• 9:25
  Pete Gladwell: project? What difference would it make to Newcastle? Off the top of my head,
• 9:30
  Pete Gladwell: I can remember 30, 000 tonnes of CO₂ saved was one
• 9:33
  Pete Gladwell: of the specific outcomes that we identified we wanted to
• 9:36
  Pete Gladwell: try and drive through that investment. There'll be jobs, there'll
• 9:39
  Pete Gladwell: be economic growth, there might be new research, impact on
• 9:42
  Pete Gladwell: health inequalities. You can see the impact specifically that your
• 9:46
  Pete Gladwell: investment is having in places.
• 9:48
  Iona Bain: Something topical at the moment is how do we solve
• 9:51
  Iona Bain: the problem of growth? How do we get our economy
• 9:53
  Iona Bain: growing? Do you think that this could be part of that
• 9:56
  Iona Bain: solution? Because pension funds have been spoken about as potentially
• 10:00
  Iona Bain: helping in terms of investing in infrastructure and driving growth
• 10:03
  Iona Bain: in the future. What do you reckon?
• 10:05
  Pete Gladwell: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And it starts with a
• 10:08
  Pete Gladwell: fundamental premise that is why I'm very excited to be
• 10:12
  Pete Gladwell: on this podcast, which is this is people's pensions and
• 10:15
  Pete Gladwell: savings. It's so easy for us as society to drift into, "
• 10:18
  Pete Gladwell: That's the private sector, and this is the public sector.
• 10:21
  Pete Gladwell: And it's the public sector job to do good, and
• 10:23
  Pete Gladwell: the private sector job to make as much money as
• 10:25
  Pete Gladwell: possible." And this whole industry, the pensions industry, is actually
• 10:28
  Pete Gladwell: about the public's pensions and savings being invested into things
• 10:32
  Pete Gladwell: that drive economic growth and improve places. Now, infrastructure is
• 10:37
  Pete Gladwell: a fascinating example of something that actually can generate a
• 10:40
  Pete Gladwell: really stable long- term return. People will continue to use
• 10:44
  Pete Gladwell: a train line or a doctor surgery. People's pensions and
• 10:48
  Pete Gladwell: savings could be deployed to help drive that growth. Housing,
• 10:52
  Pete Gladwell: key worker housing, the NHS is in huge need of
• 10:55
  Pete Gladwell: investment as well. So for me, a lot of this
• 10:57
  Pete Gladwell: comes with having that shared mission, being clear on what
• 11:00
  Pete Gladwell: we're trying to drive as a country, and then finding
• 11:02
  Pete Gladwell: the right types of investment to meet that need. Sometimes
• 11:04
  Pete Gladwell: it will be taxpayer money, sometimes it will be people's pensions
• 11:07
  Pete Gladwell: and savings.
• 11:08
  Iona Bain: So when I'm automatically enrolled into a workplace pension, where
• 11:13
  Iona Bain: does my money go?
• 11:14
  Pete Gladwell: So typically, your pension provider will put you in something
• 11:16
  Pete Gladwell: called a default fund. And the whole aim of that
• 11:19
  Pete Gladwell: is to provide something that is a good solution for the
• 11:22
  Pete Gladwell: majority of people. That tends to be where your money
• 11:25
  Pete Gladwell: starts. And then, you can look more deeply into, " Well,
• 11:30
  Pete Gladwell: what is that actually being invested into? Is that stocks?
• 11:33
  Pete Gladwell: Is it shares? Is it corporate bonds? Is it property?
• 11:36
  Pete Gladwell: And if it's stocks and shares, what kind of companies
• 11:39
  Pete Gladwell: is my pension being invested into?" And then, that gives
• 11:42
  Pete Gladwell: you the opportunity to consider if it's aligned with your
• 11:45
  Pete Gladwell: values and if it's the kind of things you'd like
• 11:47
  Pete Gladwell: your pension to be invested into.
• 11:48
  Iona Bain: But that default is required to meet a standard that
• 11:52
  Iona Bain: will work for everyone. Right?
• 11:53
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah, it's often a pretty good starting place, pretty good
• 11:56
  Pete Gladwell: solution. It's definitely great to have your money invested in
• 11:59
  Pete Gladwell: a pension fund.
• 11:59
  Iona Bain: Better than nothing.
• 12:00
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah, much better than nothing. I think the point of
• 12:04
  Pete Gladwell: this discussion is thinking about the impact your pension can
• 12:06
  Pete Gladwell: have. So often you can enhance the impact of your
• 12:09
  Pete Gladwell: pension by considering other options. There's costs to be considered
• 12:13
  Pete Gladwell: if you move your pension from the default to something
• 12:16
  Pete Gladwell: else. So it's worth carefully considering that decision and certainly
• 12:19
  Pete Gladwell: not doing it all the time. But the default's been
• 12:22
  Pete Gladwell: designed to be a great starting place for the majority of people.
• 12:24
  Iona Bain: So how do people actually find out information about what
• 12:27
  Iona Bain: their pension is invested in? Because I can imagine people
• 12:31
  Iona Bain: might feel a bit daunted at that task and think, "
• 12:33
  Iona Bain: Well, where do I go?" Where is this information?
• 12:36
  Pete Gladwell: So you should be able to go on your pension
• 12:39
  Pete Gladwell: provider's website or an app and log in there, and
• 12:42
  Pete Gladwell: you can then look and see what mandate you've given
• 12:45
  Pete Gladwell: them. Have you told them to invest in all of
• 12:47
  Pete Gladwell: the companies in the FTSE 100? That may be the default
• 12:50
  Pete Gladwell: setting. Have you asked them to invest in an ethical
• 12:54
  Pete Gladwell: fund or commercial real estate, for example? So you can
• 12:57
  Pete Gladwell: dive in, and typically you can look at the funds
• 12:59
  Pete Gladwell: and the fund fact sheets and get an idea of
• 13:01
  Pete Gladwell: what your pension is actually being invested into.
• 13:04
  Iona Bain: So it's the fund fact sheet that we should look
• 13:06
  Iona Bain: out for that's going to give us some of that
• 13:07
  Iona Bain: helpful info that we are looking for.
• 13:10
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then as well, you may find that there's
• 13:13
  Pete Gladwell: a service called Chimelo, which gives people the opportunity to
• 13:16
  Pete Gladwell: get more details on when your fund money is invested
• 13:19
  Pete Gladwell: into it. So some providers will provide you with that option
• 13:21
  Pete Gladwell: as well. And so, you're using that combination of things
• 13:24
  Pete Gladwell: to work out where your pension is currently going. And
• 13:27
  Pete Gladwell: then, you can think about, " Well, does that align with
• 13:29
  Pete Gladwell: my personal values of the companies I'm seeing on this
• 13:31
  Pete Gladwell: fund fact sheet, companies that I want my money to
• 13:34
  Pete Gladwell: be invested into?"
• 13:35
  Iona Bain: But shifting your money around isn't cost- free, I assume.
• 13:38
  Pete Gladwell: So it's not something to be done lightly. You may
• 13:41
  Pete Gladwell: need to take some advice on whether that's the right
• 13:43
  Pete Gladwell: decision for you. But the first step is just getting
• 13:45
  Pete Gladwell: informed. Where is your money being invested? And then thinking, "
• 13:48
  Pete Gladwell: Am I happy with this?" And then, as you say,
• 13:49
  Pete Gladwell: it's something to consider whether you want to move funds
• 13:52
  Pete Gladwell: within that platform, if there's any cost to be incurred
• 13:55
  Pete Gladwell: by doing that. And you don't want to be moving
• 13:56
  Pete Gladwell: your money around every day or every week.
• 13:59
  Iona Bain: No, no.
• 13:59
  Pete Gladwell: Not at all.
• 13:59
  Iona Bain: And I imagine that a lot of pension providers now
• 14:02
  Iona Bain: are trying to make that default fund, i. e., the
• 14:05
  Iona Bain: one that most of us will just be automatically put
• 14:08
  Iona Bain: into, they're trying to make those default funds more socially
• 14:11
  Iona Bain: responsible. Is that process ongoing?
• 14:15
  Pete Gladwell: I think the industry generally is becoming more cognisant of
• 14:19
  Pete Gladwell: the impact that it has. But again, you've got the
• 14:21
  Pete Gladwell: power to change the industry. Where people put their pensions
• 14:25
  Pete Gladwell: is what the industry then moves to accommodate. So if
• 14:28
  Pete Gladwell: you have lots of people telling their providers, " I don't
• 14:31
  Pete Gladwell: want to be invested in these sectors, and I really
• 14:34
  Pete Gladwell: care about these things," then providers like Legal & General and
• 14:37
  Pete Gladwell: others will start to create funds for you to invest
• 14:40
  Pete Gladwell: in those. So even within your choice, you can affect
• 14:43
  Pete Gladwell: what the industry does in future and affect that trend
• 14:46
  Pete Gladwell: in the industry towards being more considerate of the environmental
• 14:49
  Pete Gladwell: and social impact of the billions of pounds of money that
• 14:52
  Pete Gladwell: we steward.
• 14:53
  Iona Bain: Brilliant. So finally, Pete, what are your three top tips
• 14:56
  Iona Bain: for anyone who wants to learn more about social impact investing?
• 15:00
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah. Well, the first one, we've covered it but I
• 15:03
  Pete Gladwell: can't stress it enough. Your pension does have a power.
• 15:06
  Pete Gladwell: It can have real impact. It is worth thinking about
• 15:09
  Pete Gladwell: who you're entrusting your pension pot to. Because when it's
• 15:11
  Pete Gladwell: combined with millions of other people's pensions, it starts to
• 15:15
  Pete Gladwell: be a game- changing, a town- changing, a city- changing,
• 15:18
  Pete Gladwell: a country- changing amount of money.
• 15:19
  Iona Bain: Oh, I like that. That's great.
• 15:21
  Pete Gladwell: It's true. I think the second one is identifying the
• 15:24
  Pete Gladwell: need for investment in society. So making sure that whoever
• 15:28
  Pete Gladwell: it is who's stewarding your pension, they're thinking about the
• 15:30
  Pete Gladwell: needs for investment in places, but also what the right
• 15:34
  Pete Gladwell: type of investment is to meet that need. So we
• 15:36
  Pete Gladwell: discussed this earlier, but just to try and put some
• 15:38
  Pete Gladwell: meat on the bones, it's about making sure that if
• 15:41
  Pete Gladwell: you're looking for a long- term stable investment, you might
• 15:44
  Pete Gladwell: be thinking about lending money to the government. That's very long-
• 15:46
  Pete Gladwell: term, very secure, where you could also be investing in
• 15:48
  Pete Gladwell: affordable housing. If you're thinking about something short- term, then
• 15:52
  Pete Gladwell: you might be investing in health and tech startups. Those
• 15:54
  Pete Gladwell: are just two examples, but it's about meeting the social
• 15:57
  Pete Gladwell: need with the right type of money. And I can't
• 15:59
  Pete Gladwell: advise people on what the right type of manager is
• 16:02
  Pete Gladwell: or the right type of fund for them. That's why
• 16:04
  Pete Gladwell: you've got pensions advisors. But it's that understanding of what's
• 16:08
  Pete Gladwell: beneficial for society, but also your own stage in life.
• 16:11
  Iona Bain: Mm- hmm. Because we've spoken about the fact that it
• 16:13
  Iona Bain: doesn't have to be one or the other. It can
• 16:15
  Iona Bain: actually be a win- win if you get it right.
• 16:17
  Pete Gladwell: Exactly. And actually, my personal thesis is you could potentially get
• 16:21
  Pete Gladwell: enhanced financial returns if you're investing in things society really
• 16:25
  Pete Gladwell: needs. And that's where it gets really exciting. And then
• 16:27
  Pete Gladwell: lastly, we talked a bit about this, but making sure
• 16:30
  Pete Gladwell: your pension aligns with your own beliefs. That could be
• 16:33
  Pete Gladwell: religious beliefs, it could be personal beliefs. So looking at
• 16:36
  Pete Gladwell: what your pension is actually invested into at the moment,
• 16:39
  Pete Gladwell: is that aligned with your own beliefs? And then thinking
• 16:42
  Pete Gladwell: if it isn't, about how you can move it to
• 16:44
  Pete Gladwell: something that is more aligned. As I said, at the
• 16:46
  Pete Gladwell: time you need to think about the charges you might
• 16:48
  Pete Gladwell: incur, but it's still worth considering. Get advice if you
• 16:51
  Pete Gladwell: need to. But that's a really good way to make
• 16:54
  Pete Gladwell: sure that your money, including your pension, is empowering the
• 16:57
  Pete Gladwell: right types of companies, the right type of investments, and not
• 17:00
  Pete Gladwell: ones that you fundamentally personally disagree with.
• 17:03
  Iona Bain: Great. Okay. So I can summarize those tips as understand
• 17:06
  Iona Bain: the power that your pension has. Get informed about whether
• 17:09
  Iona Bain: your pension is indeed doing social impact investing. We've talked
• 17:13
  Iona Bain: about what you think that should look like today.
• 17:15
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah.
• 17:16
  Iona Bain: And thirdly, make sure that whatever you are investing in
• 17:20
  Iona Bain: is aligned with your own values. And if you're not
• 17:23
  Iona Bain: happy, then speak up and make that change.
• 17:32
  Pete Gladwell: Yeah.
• 17:32
  Iona Bain: Have I got that right?
• 17:32
  Pete Gladwell: Perfect.
• 17:32
  Iona Bain: Oh, good.
• 17:32
  Pete Gladwell: Thank you.
• 17:32
  Iona Bain: Excellent. All right.
• 17:32
  Pete Gladwell: My job here is done.
• 17:32
  Iona Bain: Thanks very much, Pete. So interesting to hear about all the
• 17:35
  Iona Bain: ways that our pension money is being used for good out there
• 17:38
  Iona Bain: in the world. We're going to come back to the
• 17:40
  Iona Bain: topic of pensions, including the big debate, property versus pensions.
• 17:44
  Iona Bain: But in the meantime, I'd love it if you could
• 17:46
  Iona Bain: follow the podcast, leave us a review, and help others
• 17:49
  Iona Bain: get a little bit richer too. You can keep up
• 17:51
  Iona Bain: with the show on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Follow us
• 17:56
  Iona Bain: at Legal & General. Thanks for listening. Until next time, see
• 18:00
  Iona Bain: you soon.