MARK BARNES: MPs voting for access to savings will impoverish retired workers
Allowing workers to secure loans against pensions is a slippery slope to financial despair
I was out on a walk with my eldest daughter the other day when she asked whether I thought it was better to buy a house, or rent. We didn’t need a spreadsheet; the question isn’t only answered in the numbers. Buying a house ensures certainty of tenure, flexibility of upgrading and a measure of forced saving as you slowly pay off the bond or simply benefit from the (usually) increased value over time. Investing in your retirement has similar virtues.
The Treasury is quite rightly standing its ground in opposition to a private member’s bill (supposedly enjoying the support of MPs across party lines) to allow workers to use retirement savings as security for loans. Apparently this is motivated by the losses (in various forms) people have suffered because of Covid-19. Whatever the motivation, the proposal is fundamentally flawed...
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