Pension assets increase for third month running

Category: Pensions
Date: 6/22/2009

Britain's defined contribution (DC) pension assets increasing for the third month in a row, but a concerted period of gains are still needed to being them back to previous levels

In fact, a further nine months of sustained market gains are still required to return to 2007 levels, according to Aon Consulting.

The total asset value of UK workers' DC pension accounts increased three per cent over the last month to a combined total of £430 billion, thanks to continued gains in global equity markets.

However, losses since the start of the economic downturn are still far from being recouped, with a further rise of 28 per cent required to bring assets back to the combined value of £550 billion seen in September 2007.

Richard Strachan, senior consultant at Aon Consulting, warned it would be risky for those approaching retirement to rely solely on stock market rallies to boost their pension.

"Relying on stock market rallies is far too risky for those who are within ten years of retirement and we urge those workers to take positive action to ensure they get an acceptable standard of living in retirement, and don't just leave it to a reliance on the markets' continue rally by the time they come to retire," he commented.