Pensions and Finance blog, news & resources

Should you aim to ‘Die With Zero'?

Entrepreneur Bill Perkins argues that, rather than just saving for the future, you should be aiming to die with zero. Find out why, and some questions worth asking first.

Trailer: The Pension Confident Podcast Series Five summer trailer

Redundancy, the ‘Singles Tax’, Britain’s £5.5 trillion inheritance pile: Philippa Lamb rounds up Series Five’s biggest questions so far. Plus, a first listen to what’s coming next.

The following is a transcript of a bonus podcast episode of The Pension Confident Podcast. Listen to the episode, watch on YouTube or scroll on to read the conversation.

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PHILIPPA: Hi, welcome back to The Pension Confident Podcast. I’m Philippa Lamb, here’s your Series 5 rewind so far!

We’ve been asking big questions this year like “What happens when your job disappears overnight?”

ELEANOR: I got a call, asking me to go up and see the new Editor. [I] walked in, the tissues were on the table -

PHILIPPA: [Gasps]

ELEANOR: The Head of [Human Resources] (HR) was there with the new boss, and I was out.

PHILIPPA: “Is being single costing you?”

PHILIPPA: I know it’s a bit personal, but who’s single right now?

VALENTINA: I am.

BOBBY: Mine is complicated, so in physics -

ALL: Ooooh!

PHILIPPA: “Who’s going to get Britain’s £5.5 trillion pound inheritance pile?”

ANNALIESE: Do you have a will? I’m putting you on the spot there.

DAN: I don’t have a will -

ALL: [Gasps]

DAN: Yet!

PHILIPPA: “Are Buy-to-Lets still worth having?”

MICHAEL: It’s down to how much rent the surveyor agrees it’s going to get. And surveyors are very prudent and very mean at times.

PHILIPPA: “Can you build a pension pot from scratch if you’re [aged] 50 plus?”

HANNAH: Play around with the compound interest calculator. Trust me, it’s more fun than that sounds.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, it doesn’t sound like a great day, but it really is.

PHILIPPA: And, one for all of us, “How do you keep lifestyle creep at bay?”

CLARE: Keeping lifestyle creep at bay is like playing whack-a-mole, because as you have more money, you sort of think, “Why not?”

PHILIPPA: This is news you can use and there’s more. The other day I sat down with Series Producer, Lucy Greenwell, to pull out our absolute favourite bits from Series 5 so far. That’ll drop into your feed later this month. For now, here’s a taster.

PHILIPPA: Do you know how many guests we’ve had on this series so far?

LUCY: I do, I’ve counted them up -

PHILIPPA: of course you have -

LUCY: all told, in the last six months we’ve had 33 different voices on Series 5 of the podcast!

PHILIPPA: And come September, after our annual summer break, the podcast is back, to dig into “What might be missing from your investment portfolio?”

GABRIEL: No one ever says “Beware, your money is being eroded by inflation”. It’s always “Beware, capital at risk with investing”, which I think has turned us into a nation of savers. We love a rainy day, but we’re too good at it.

PHILIPPA: So lots coming up and of course, if you’ve missed an episode, you can always catch up wherever you get your podcasts, or on YouTube, or in the PensionBee app. Happy listening!

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Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

5 famous people who reinvented themselves in later life

Later life isn't an end, but a time to reinvent yourself and pursue your goals. Be inspired by these five famous people who achieved their success over age 50.

Your July 2026 market update: tech stocks, Iran, and interest rates lead to flat performance across the world

Stock markets recorded flat and falling performance last month as big tech dragged and interest rate rises loomed. Find out what happened to markets in July.

This is part of our monthly series. Catch up on last month’s summary here: Your June 2026 market update: Keir Starmer resigns, big shifts in big tech, and key interest rate decisions

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It’s said that history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. That feels relevant when looking at July market performance.

The month’s news cycle was almost a ‘greatest hits’ of 2026 so far, as we saw:

US tech companies dominating headlines;
questions about where interest rates might be headed;
political change in the UK;
tensions in the Middle East leading to restricted oil and gas supplies; and
the US imposing tariffs on its trading partners.

All these events created headwinds for the world’s major markets, leading to flat and falling performance this month.

As ever, a month is a snapshot. Zoom out, and markets have historically trended upwards over time. Take a look at what happened in July.

The headlines: tech stocks fall as investors move to defensive assets

Markets reacted to global uncertainty this month. That led some of the biggest companies to drop, taking markets with them. In response, more defensive assets such as banking and utilities performed well.

The S&P 500 lagged this month. Largely, that’s down to the Magnificent Seven, a group of tech stocks that comprise some of the biggest companies in the world.

Investors are concerned about the true profitability of Artificial Intelligence (AI). And these businesses are racing to outcompete each other for dominance in the sector.

While earnings reports were broadly positive, spending plans spooked investors. That led to a bit of a market correction (more on this below).

US markets were also impacted by geopolitical updates.

Renewed conflict between the US and Iran, restricting oil and gas flow. This hurt markets before, pushing up energy prices. This can affect costs across the economy. As these increase, consumers cut back on spending, leading to lower performance in businesses.
New tariffs on the US’s trading partners, harming growth. This didn’t send markets tumbling like the first set of tariffs in April 2025. It may take some time for this change to filter through, so it might not be reflected fully in the data yet.

Markets also struggled across Asia. Japan felt the effects of the drop in AI stocks, as did South Korea and China.

These countries are home to companies which have benefited from the AI buildout. That includes semiconductor producers like SK Hynix in South Korea, and Tokyo Electron in Japan.

Before July, they’d carried the countries’ markets to some notable growth this year. For example, South Korea’s KOSPI index doubled in value in the first half of 2026.

So, investors’ nervousness about the future of the AI sector and the shift into defensive options harmed Asian markets.

The UK and Europe were the biggest beneficiaries of this shift in July. Both the FTSE 350 and MSCI Europe Ex-UK are mostly made up of ‘old economy’ companies like those in energy, banking, and mining.

Investors often seek shelter in such assets when uncertainty increases. So, as tech companies dragged, these stocks performed well.

This also explains the S&P 500’s flat performance. While its flagship tech giants have driven growth, it also contains a huge number of these more defensive stocks. That’s left it balanced out at a small increase in value.

All this is underpinned by concerns around inflation and interest rates - more on this later.

Mixed results in US tech stocks

Six of the Magnificent Seven reported earnings in July.

Investors tend to closely watch most companies during earnings seasons, as it gives a sense of the direction of specific stocks.

But these businesses’ earnings reports are even more key. They make up such a large percentage of the US market, and the world markets as a result.

Plus, other businesses - particularly in Asia - rely on them for custom. So, when they move, it can take the world markets with them.

It was a mix of fortunes during this earnings season.

Amazon and Microsoft announced revenue increases and relative successes in the costs and efficacy of their AI infrastructure investments.

However, investors shunned Meta and Apple, with each seeing their shares fall after reporting their earnings.

Both companies reported increases in sales. But, for Meta, an eye-watering minimum of $130 billion to spend on its AI buildout had investors wondering when it would become profitable.

Apple hasn’t staked its future in the AI buildout. But it still needs the components to build its phones that the other tech giants are using on data centres and AI infrastructure. Investors were spooked by these supply constraint concerns.

As mentioned above, the S&P 500 increased slightly this month. Poor tech stock performance was offset by gains elsewhere.

But, when looking at the Nasdaq - an index made up primarily of tech stocks - it was down by 10% from its peak this year.

This puts it in the territory of a market ‘correction’, marked by a fall of 10-20%. Arguably, that means stocks are now priced relative to what they’re worth.

Investors moved into defensive assets amid challenges around the world

Of course, as is often the case for markets, this value didn’t just disappear. Instead, investors rotated into different, more defensive assets.

These are businesses that perform slowly and steadily - think sectors like banking, energy, and consumer goods.

Such businesses might not have the same growth potential as something like a tech stock. But they can be placed to ride out periods of uncertainty as their customer bases are often constant, even when circumstances slow spending.

Right now, that includes things like:

the conflict between the US and Iran, and the possibility of energy prices staying higher for longer;
the newly announced tariffs in the US and what they might mean;
inflation and the rising cost of living; and
interest rates (more on this below).

For example, in the UK, Unilever - the owner of brands like Vaseline and Dove - delivered its best quarter for sales volumes in over a decade.

Similarly, in the US, the big winners were banks. Wall Street giants like Bank of America and JP Morgan reported strong earnings from trading and investment banking.

With uncertainty abound, investors preferred these more tangible investments.

Interest rates held across the board

All this month’s performance has been underpinned by central banks voting on interest rates.

Interest rates are one of the main tools central banks have for controlling inflation. When inflation’s high, raising interest rates can slow spending and bring it down. Meanwhile, when it’s low, cutting rates can stimulate the economy.

Currently, inflation’s above the 2% target in most economies. So, we might expect rises to come.

Yet, in the most recent reviews, the world’s major banks held their rates. That includes the:

Notably, the BOJ and ECB raised rates last month already. So, their holds seem less surprising.

For the rest, it seems to be a matter of time before they follow suit. Three of nine BoE committee members voted for a rate rise this month, as did three of the Fed’s 12 members.

Inflation's still running above target in these economies. That means we might see some countries follow Japan and Europe in raising rates this year.

This could influence markets. Interest-paying assets, such as bonds, could become more attractive.

Meanwhile, rising borrowing costs could be consequential in the UK, especially for the government.

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s promised to focus on the cost of living. That's all while carrying out his “business-friendly socialism” strategy from his days as Mayor of Manchester.

Bond markets responded negatively to the new Prime Minister, with concerns that he’ll increase borrowing to fund his spending plans.

Increased interest rates could make that even more expensive. So, we could see a similar reaction later in 2026 if that were to happen.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Inside the campaign that's reimagining retirement

Take a look behind the scenes of Born to Retire, PensionBee's campaign reimagining what retirement could look like.

For decades, traditional advertising sold retirement the same way.

Smiling couples on a beach, a round of golf, a cruise somewhere sunny. It's a picture of later life that feels familiar, comfortable and predictable. But for many people, it doesn't feel relatable.

If you ask most people to picture their own retirement, they tend to struggle. The image on screen rarely matches the life they actually live, or the one they hope for. That gap has been part of pension marketing for years, and it hasn't done much to make people feel closer to their own future.

The language around pensions hasn't changed much either. It's full of technical terms and product features, and rarely talks about the life people actually want. When retirement does come up, it's often framed around fear.

That kind of messaging can sometimes prompt people to act, but it might not make them feel positive about the future they're building. Fear can grab attention, but it doesn't build confidence.

PensionBee's new campaign, Born to Retire, offers a different perspective. Rather than an ending, retirement is a new opportunity - a chance to lean into your passions and shape your days around what you actually want to do.

Changing the conversation

It can be surprisingly difficult to picture yourself enjoying retirement. It can seem like something reserved for people who are better off or better prepared.

Born to Retire challenges that idea, treating retirement as something for everyone rather than a reward you earn by getting everything right.

Instead of talking about pensions as a chore, the campaign talks about possibility.

Across TV, radio, digital and outdoor ads, that’s why one statement runs through it all: ‘Who could you be with PensionBee.’

The question is open on purpose, and the answer is different for everyone. For one person, retirement could mean:

waking up to a new view every morning in a campervan;
perfecting the instrument you learned at school;
finally turning that overgrown allotment into something you're proud of;
volunteering at your local community centre and;
teaching your grandkids to fish, cook, or ride a bike.

‍From products to people

This is also a shift in how PensionBee talks about itself.

Earlier campaigns explained how our product worked and helped people understand the benefits of combining pensions. More recently we've moved towards feelings, like what it's like to have your pension sorted and your future under control. As PensionBee CMO, Jasper Martens, puts it, as a brand you have to earn the right to say more, and that right has been earned step-by-step.

Born to Retire goes further. The person comes first, and the pension is the tool that helps get them there.

That's a big change from most financial adverts, which tend to lead with fees and product features. When you pay attention and look at them you'll find numbers before names, and charts before characters.

This campaign leads with hope instead, trusting that people will care more about their pension once they can picture what it's actually for and what they want to do with it. It treats pensions as something that matters because of what they let you do later, not because of the admin involved in managing them.

A challenger mindset

10 years on, PensionBee is no longer the small startup it once was, with over 327,000 Invested Customers to date. But Born to Retire is rooted in the same challenger mindset that shaped the company from the beginning.

The creative process began by looking at how people experience pensions today. Too often, they still feel distant and intimidating. The team wanted to create something that felt more human and more optimistic.

That thinking runs through the campaign. Instead of focusing on products or retirement milestones, it explores the conversations and emotions that shape the way people think about later life and get them excited for retirement.

It doesn't try to answer every question about retirement. But it encourages people to see it differently. That meant stepping away from the familiar language and imagery that has long defined pension advertising and representing the very people who are in the retired phase of their life.

Building a different visual world

Bringing this idea to life meant creating a look that felt different, without losing touch with real life.

The visuals use colour, movement and a touch of surrealism, making the world feel brighter than everyday life while staying recognisably human. The aim was for it to feel hyper-real, not fantasy.

Every choice worked towards the same goal: retirement should feel like something joyful to look forward to, not something out of reach.

Every detail mattered

Big campaigns take months of planning. We worked with creative agency Wildish & Co. who kept the project on track from moodboards, casting and costume design to production meetings and location scouting, long before filming started. Every detail had to support the same idea.

wardrobe choices reflected personality rather than perfection;
sets were built to feel lived in, not staged; and
props hinted at each character's interests and ambitions, without spelling everything out.

That's why the finished films feel crafted rather than over-produced. Every detail is considered, but nothing feels forced or overly polished.

The aim was to create something that feels authentic. Rather than watching a traditional pension advert, the audience is invited to see a version of retirement that could one day be their own.

Looking beyond pensions

At its heart, Born to Retire is an invitation to think differently about retirement. Instead of asking people what they're saving for, it asks them who they might become.

The campaign is designed to leave people feeling hopeful about what's ahead. The pension is still there, but as an enabler rather than the story itself. That's what gives the campaign its optimistic tone and sets it apart from more traditional retirement advertising.

Rethinking retirement

Financial advertising has long relied on certainty and facts. Those things still matter. But on their own, they can only take the conversation so far. People don't just want confidence in their pension - they want something to feel confident about.

That's where Born to Retire differs. Rather than dwelling on the practicalities of retirement, it invites people to imagine the life that comes after work. The pension is still there, but it's no longer the headline.

In doing so, the campaign suggests that planning for later life isn't just about being prepared financially, it’s also about having something worth looking forward to.

How much should I have in my pension?

See how much you might need in your pension each decade from 30 to 60 to provide enough retirement income.

Knowing how much to save for later life is tricky. Retirement can feel like something to think about down the line, especially when you’re young and in the middle of your career.

But, the sooner you start putting a plan together and working out how much you’ll need, the easier it can be to set money aside.

Having an end goal to work towards can give you purpose and direction with your saving.

Plus, you can regularly check in at different life stages to monitor your progress.

So how much do you need to save for retirement?

What you need in your pension each decade

In truth, what you need for retirement depends on your personal circumstances - we’ll come back to this idea at the end.

First, let’s look at what retirement could cost on average. For that, we’ll use Pensions UK’s Retirement Living Standards.

These are an estimate of the average annual cost of retirement, updated each year. It breaks the cost of retirement down into three lifestyles: minimum, moderate, and comfortable.

We’ll base our calculation on a moderate standard of living. That’s a retirement lifestyle which each year includes things like:

£500 for maintaining your property, and £300 in case of emergencies;
around £59 a week for groceries, plus £33 a week for food out of the home;
a three-year-old car, replaced every seven years;
a fortnight three-star all-inclusive holiday in the Med, plus a UK off-peak staycation; and
up to £1,500 for clothing and footwear.

They also assume you have no housing costs, such as rent or mortgage payments.

In 2026/27, the figures for how much you need each year for a moderate retirement are:

£32,700 for individuals; and
£45,400 for couples - that’s a combined household income between two people.

With these figures in mind, we can then work out that a single person would need total pension savings of £503,825.

This assumes that you receive the full new State Pension, and retire at State Pension age. In 2026/27, the full new State Pension pays £12,547 a year once you reach State Pension age (66, rising to 67 by 2028).

It’s based on annual withdrawals of 4%, increased by inflation each year. This withdrawal rate historically means your pot’ll last for at least 30 years. However, it’s not a perfect science, and that rate might not be appropriate for everyone.

These calculations also assume no tax, but pension income - including from the State Pension - is potentially taxable. So, you might need more in your pension to achieve this income when taking tax into account.

How much should I have in my pension throughout my career?

With this figure in mind, you can then work backwards. Using the PensionBee Pension Calculator, you can work out what you’d need to have saved throughout your life to reach those targets.

The table below shows you what you’d need to build a pot of that size at 30, 40, 50, and 60 as an individual.

The figures make the following assumptions:

£350 personal monthly contribution, including tax relief;
£250 employer monthly contribution;
5% annual investment growth;
2.5% annual inflation;
0.7% in pension fees;
a retirement age of 67; and
you don’t take your 25% tax-free lump sum (from 55, rising to 57 from 2028).

Age	Total pension savings
30	£55,000
40	£145,000
50	£255,000
60	£390,000

Note: total pension savings figures are rounded.

These figures show the power of starting early. If you begin contributing at 30 and keep doing so, you have enough time to set money aside and give it the chance to grow so you can enjoy later life.

They don’t show the impact of increasing contributions, either. As you progress through your career, your earnings might rise. That could allow you to increase how much you pay into your pension too.

Doing so could help you hit your goal sooner. That might allow you to retire earlier, or with more saved than you thought you might have.

Save for your future with PensionBee

The Retirement Living Standards are a good guide for what you’ll need for later life.

But they’re just that - a guide.

What you’ll need for retirement is actually completely personal to you. It’ll depend on things like:

when you want to retire;
what you want to do with your time;
what sort of lifestyle you’re aiming for; and
whether you’re single or in a couple.

Putting these elements together, you can work out your own personal number to aim for. Then, you can use tools like the PensionBee Pension Calculator to give you an idea of how much you’d need to save to achieve it.

You can see what impact increasing your contributions would have. You can also add or remove the full new State Pension. So, if you won’t make enough National Insurance contributions, you can take that off your calculation. You need 35 years on your record to receive the full amount.

By working out what you need and what it’d take to get there, you can have the confidence that you’re on track for the retirement you want.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

BeeHive 2026 - refreshing your experience

Over the past few months, we’ve been refreshing your PensionBee account ('BeeHive') across the apps and our website. Read our round-up of what's changed so far, including some new features.

Over the past few months, we’ve been refreshing your PensionBee account (your ‘BeeHive’) to give you clearer access to your pension information and make managing your retirement savings easier.

Android users may have noticed these changes being progressively rolled out since our February launch. If you're an iOS user, changes will be rolled out shortly, or you can download the latest version of the app. We've rounded up some of the changes so far that have made their way into your BeeHive.

‍What’s new:

‍Plan information

You can now more easily see where and how your pension is invested. Head to ‘My pension’ and tap ‘View plan information’. Here you’ll get a quick look at your plan’s top 10 holdings - the companies that your pension has the largest investments in - as well as the type of assets and the countries your pension invests in.

‍Discover tab

Our blog, video and podcast content can be found under the new ‘Discover’ tab, which you’ll find on your main navigation bar. Here you’ll be able to keep up to date with all of our latest and weekly featured blogs, the Pension Confident Podcast and our Pensions 101 videos. There’s always something new to read, watch or listen to, so be sure to check back regularly.

‍Automatic withdrawals

Our newest way of taking money from your pension lets eligible* customers schedule automatic withdrawals. It saves time and the hassle of making monthly manual withdrawals by having them automatically deposited to your chosen bank account.

‍*you can withdraw from age 55, rising to 57 in 2028.

Dark mode

If you like to use dark mode with your other apps, we’ve now added it as an option within the PensionBee app. If you're not familiar, dark mode is a display setting that uses light-coloured text on a dark background. It’s easier on the eyes in low light, reduces screen glare, and can even help save a little battery life. To enable dark mode, tap the 'Account' icon in the top right corner of your app and then select 'Settings'.

‍Live chat

We've expanded the ways you can access support through our new live chat feature. Live chat lets you get quick answers to your questions without leaving the app. Just tap the icon in the bottom right corner to open it, then type your question and our AI assistant, BeeBot, will respond right away. If BeeBot can't help, simply ask to speak with one of our account managers (BeeKeepers) instead. Past conversations are saved in the 'Messages' tab within the Live chat feature, and you can download transcripts anytime you need them for your records.

Personal rate of return

Personal rate of return is a new performance metric we’ve added to the 'My pension' tab of your BeeHive. The current simple return compares your current pension balance to the total net amount of money you’ve paid in. However, if you regularly contribute, transfer a pension or withdraw from it, the personal rate of return provides a more accurate picture of pension performance by factoring in the size and timing of those transactions. So you’ll always see a figure that genuinely reflects how your money has grown. This feature is being gradually rolled out, so you may not see it initially.

‍Account

You can manage your personal information and find account support under the new ‘Account’ tab in the top right corner of your BeeHive. Here you’ll be able to edit your personal details, manage beneficiaries, find your BeeKeeper’s contact information and access our FAQs.

A refreshed look and feel

Whether you manage your pension through our app or online, you’ll get a more consistent experience, including the names of features and menu items. Those menu items are outlined below:

Summary (previously, the ‘Balance’ tab).

This is now split into two parts: ‘Transactions’ and ‘Overview’.

Transactions

We’ve simplified your pension’s transaction history, showing only the two most recent, with access to your full history available through ‘See all’. Your pension’s transaction history includes contributions, transfers and HMRC and tax top ups made into your pension and any withdrawals from it.

Overview

Your pension’s overview makes it clearer to see how much money has been added to your pension whilst excluding any investment growth.

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My pension (previously, the ‘Analytics’ tab)

See your plan’s performance up front with the performance chart. See simple pounds and percentage figures, making performance over time easy to understand.

Find your plan information, Retirement Planner and switch to a different plan, if preferred, all from here.

‍Actions (previously, the ‘Funds’ tab)

This is where you can contribute to your pension, transfer old ones and track their progress. You can also find your unique PensionBee referral link here. So, you can refer a friend and receive a £100 pension contribution for every friend who opens an account and adds £100 or more to their pension.

‍More to come

Although we’ve completed the rollout of your refreshed BeeHive, we’re continuing to enhance your PensionBee experience with new and improved features coming in the not-too-distant future. You can look forward to enhanced tools, including a new version of your Retirement Planner to help you better plan for and manage life in retirement.

Let us know what you think

We’re always looking for ways to improve your experience as a PensionBee customer. If you have feedback about the changes or any other part of your PensionBee experience, email us at feedback@pensionbee.com.

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Could cohabiting couples finally get legal rights?

The government's considering major reforms to give cohabiting couples in England and Wales greater financial rights. Learn more about the proposed changes.

E52: Is it worth getting married? With Mike Donkor, Philippa Dolan and Jasper Martens

For the first time ever, fewer than half of UK adults are married. So is tying the knot still worth it, legally and financially? In this episode our panel unpack the real legal and financial gap between marriage and cohabiting, covering Inheritance Tax, pensions, wills, and more.

The following is a transcript of a bonus podcast episode of The Pension Confident Podcast. Listen to the episode or scroll to read the conversation.

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Takeaways from this episode

Fewer couples are choosing to get married - fewer than half of all UK adults are married or in a civil partnership, while the number of cohabiting couples has increased by about 140% between 1996 and 2021.
The ‘common law marriage’ myth - around 46% of people in the UK mistakenly believe common law marriage exists.
Marriage still carries real tax advantages - assets, including property, can pass between spouses free of Inheritance Tax.
Adults aren’t preparing for the worst - around 47% of people in the UK don’t have a will, leaving unmarried partners especially exposed.

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PHILIPPA LAMB: Hi! Will you marry me? It’s a question most people answer with their heart, not their head. But should they? For the first time ever, fewer than half of all UK adults are married or in a civil partnership. Cohabiting is a completely normal part of modern life. The problem is the law hasn’t kept pace with it, and the financial and legal gap between married and unmarried couples is way bigger than most people realise. So, the question we’re asking is: legally and financially, is it worth getting married?

With me today, another Philippa! Philippa Dolan, a Solicitor and Partner at Collyer Bristow. She’s also Co-Host of their legal podcast, LawTorn. Philippa has spent decades advising clients about prenups, divorce, and custody cases. Mike Donkor’s here with us too. He’s a former Stockbroker turned Financial Planner. He provides regulated advice to help individuals and couples simplify complex financial decisions around issues like Employee Share Schemes [and] Inheritance Tax (IHT). And from PensionBee this time, we’re joined by Chief Marketing Officer, Jasper Martens. He’s been with PensionBee since, what, almost the very beginning?

JASPER: The beginning, yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And it’s not your first time on the podcast.

JASPER: It isn’t.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Welcome everyone.

MIKE: Welcome, welcome.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Thanks for coming in.

MIKE: Thanks for having us.

JASPER: Thank you.

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Why marriage rates are falling

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PHILIPPA LAMB: Now look, I’ve got a question for all of you. Assuming you find someone that you want to spend the rest of your life with, do you personally think marriage is the way to go? Philippa?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: It’s hard to generalise. Sorry, I’m a lawyer.

PHILIPPA LAMB: She’s equivocating right out of the gate.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: I am, yes.

PHILIPPA LAMB: For you then?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: I got married to someone I’m still very friendly with. We had two children. We got divorced after a few years. I did the divorce. It was all fine.

PHILIPPA LAMB: DIY divorce.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: I totally trusted my then husband.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Did you marry again?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: I did marry again.

PHILIPPA LAMB: How did you two meet?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: He came to see me as a client, because he was getting divorced and we fell in love.

PHILIPPA LAMB: OK.

JASPER: Sounds like a rom-com.

MIKE: Sounds like an episode of Suits.

PHILIPPA LAMB: I don’t know if that’s romantic or not. But it’s handy -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: yeah, yeah -

PHILIPPA LAMB: wow -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: who I’ve been married to for many years.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Mike, how about you?

MIKE: I’ve been married about 11 years now.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And was it always going to be marriage?

MIKE: So yeah, I never really over-thought about it. It was just, “OK, we’re together, we’re gonna have kids, and then we’re gonna get married”. And that was the process with me. Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And that’s what happened.

MIKE: Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: For the record, I’m married, second marriage, like Philippa. So, fair to say I’m quite positive about it myself. Which brings me to Jasper.

JASPER: Well, I’m not married myself, but I’ve been together with my partner for 18 years, so you can consider that to be quite a long-term engagement -

PHILIPPA LAMB: yeah, long relationship -

JASPER: yes, long relationship, and I think I’ve never been too keen on it.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Tell me why.

JASPER: A couple of reasons. First of all, quite a lot of people around me got divorced, quite early on in the process. And second, I’m gay, and in not many countries marriage was an option on the table. And my age hopefully doesn’t show too much, but from the Netherlands it was always possible, where I’m from originally. But I’d say in other countries it wasn’t always an option. Here in the UK only, I don’t know when it was actually legalised or when it was possible.

PHILIPPA LAMB: I think that came in 2014.

JASPER: So, there were two reasons for it really. I see a lot of marriages fail.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Yeah.

JASPER: And I just want to keep it nice and clean if the time ever comes that me and my partner are no longer together. But we’ve been going for 18 years and we’re quite happy.

PHILIPPA LAMB: What you say is right. Not all marriages go well. Mike, marriage is declining anyway, isn’t it?

MIKE: Yeah. 42% of marriages end in divorce. Naturally, we’re seeing an increase of cohabitants in the UK as well. It’s about 3.5 million people. It’s increased by about 140% [from 1996 to 2021]. And we’re seeing a lot more kids being born from unmarried couples as well.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Philippa, there’s this term, isn’t there, that people throw around a lot, ‘common law marriage’.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yes.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So, is that a thing?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: No.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: absolutely not.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been together?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Doesn’t matter. None of that counts. You can be together for 60 years.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Doesn’t matter if you’ve got kids? Doesn’t matter if you own property together?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: They make a difference, clearly, because you’ve got a claim if you’ve got property with someone and children are separate. Children do have claims, but they’re -

PHILIPPA LAMB: but if you’re not married, in any way -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: the children’s claims. They’re not the parents’ claims, and the parents have no rights.

PHILIPPA LAMB: I do wonder how many people actually know that.

MIKE: I don’t think a lot of people know. I think it’s quite low. In the UK, around 46% of people believe that common law marriages exist, and it doesn’t. So, people are cohabiting together and assuming that the government or the law is protecting them in one way, shape, or form when it actually isn’t.

PHILIPPA LAMB: That’s a big problem, isn’t it? We’ll get into the why of that in due course, but it’s fascinating to hear. Essentially, should we just nail down civil partnership as well, Philippa? Because obviously, not everyone marries, but people do have civil partnerships. Are your rights the same?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Exactly.

PHILIPPA LAMB: OK.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Absolutely the same.

PHILIPPA LAMB: But, Jasper, you haven’t done either?

JASPER: No, we haven’t done either. So, we’re together, we’re cohabiting, I’d say, and we’ll probably get later into it, but certain things that are common, like our house, we’ve got that sorted. You have to make sure that those things - what happens if we’re separating, or even one of us passes away? What happens to the house? I think you need to take care of those things. But there are other ways to do it rather than going into either a civil partnership or getting married.

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The financial perks of marriage

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PHILIPPA LAMB: OK, well, I don’t want to persuade you to [do] anything different, but I’m going to ask Mike -

MIKE: yeah -

PHILIPPA LAMB: to talk about actual financial benefits -

JASPER: yes -

PHILIPPA LAMB: of being married. Are there any?

MIKE: Well, yeah, there’s loads.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Go on then, tell us.

MIKE: There’s loads. Ultimately, I always say to clients when I’m speaking to them about this stuff, “What’s important for you, and the people that you care about, if you weren’t here?” And I think when you start to answer that question, then the question of marriage starts to become a bit more attractive in some circumstances.

The idea of marriage is essentially, I guess, from a legal, financial perspective, is more of an automatic framework of what could happen in the event of something later on. And that can save a lot of time, a lot of hassle, maybe a lot of cost as well. So, if I was to touch on one thing, for example, Inheritance Tax (IHT) - Jasper was talking about property - if you’re married and something [were] to happen to one of the spouses, your property could automatically be transferred to your surviving spouse -

PHILIPPA LAMB: without Inheritance Tax? -

MIKE: without Inheritance Tax.

PHILIPPA LAMB: That’s a key difference, isn’t it?

MIKE: It’s quite powerful.

PHILIPPA LAMB: That could be a lot of money.

MIKE: Yeah, definitely. If you think about London, the average house price is around £550,000, probably upwards of that. We start thinking about Inheritance Tax, those numbers can just keep going up and up and up without you even doing anything, just by sitting in the property.

PHILIPPA LAMB: It’s quite a compelling thought, isn’t it, Jasper?

JASPER: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Just got to lay that out there.

MIKE: Jasper’s intrigued!

JASPER: I think the Inheritance Tax isn’t something I would’ve thought about per se. For me, it was more about - and this sounds awful to say because we’re very happy together - but it was more from a point of view, I meant, what if we decide to move, split up? Like, what would happen? We just take each other’s share of the house. And that’s it really. But what if one [of you] passes away and if you’re not married or in a civil partnership, Inheritance Tax might be on the table versus not on the table. So, I think that’s definitely a consideration.

PHILIPPA LAMB: We’re going to talk more about what happens if someone unfortunately dies a bit later on, but are there other tax benefits we should be thinking about?

MIKE: Well, yeah, Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

PHILIPPA LAMB: Right. So how does that work?

MIKE: So, if you’re an owner of property or shares, [or] some investment, you could effectively transfer some of those assets, or that equity, to your spouse at no Capital Gains Tax. I guess one of the key benefits there is you’re now in a position where it’s not just one allowance that you can maximise, because everyone has a Capital Gains [tax-free] allowance of £3,000 a year (2026/2027). So effectively you could split that share, provide it to your partner, and they can also use their allowance if they were to sell those shares as well.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Am I right, maybe there used to be something around Income Tax as well for married couples?

MIKE: So, if one of the spouses isn’t earning and the other one’s a basic taxpayer, then they could still transfer the Marriage Allowance, about £1,260 [of your Personal Allowance] (2026/2027), something along those lines.

PHILIPPA LAMB: OK, so there’s a marginal gain there. That’s worth thinking about.

MIKE: You can save [in tax up to £252] or so (2026/2027). Obviously [it’s] dependent on the circumstances, but there’s something there.

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When unmarried couples split

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PHILIPPA LAMB: It would be useful, Philippa, to talk about what happens to an unmarried couple’s finances when they split. If you’re just living together, cohabiting, no agreement, no nothing, what happens to all the stuff? However long you’ve been together, what happens to all the things you’ve built?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Well, it’s like two people living together, that’s all it is. They could be flatmates, so whoever owns what, they own it. And you might have an argument over the sofa if you went out and bought it together, but probably you own half each.

PHILIPPA LAMB: OK, so here’s a common scenario. It certainly was in the past, I think still is. Girlfriend moves into boyfriend’s flat or house. They end up staying together for years. She’s paying other bills, maybe he’s paying the mortgage, maybe she’s contributing, but it’s off the books. They’re sharing their household finances, but he still owns the house. So, they’re together 20 years. At the end, the house is his outright, is it?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: It really depends [on] what she’s been contributing.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Would she have to prove it?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: If he doesn’t agree, yes. The messiest of litigation.

JASPER: That’s very messy.

PHILIPPA LAMB: That’s the thing, isn’t it? In those relationships, you don’t keep notes, do you? You just pay bills.

MIKE: No one’s tracking who bought the vacuum, who paid for the cooker, unless you’ve got a spreadsheet like me, you know.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: So certainly, if the property’s the main asset, then if it’s in one person’s name, you’re a bit stuffed if you’re the other person. You can run arguments about, “Well, I did pay the mortgage, say”, which would give you some claim -

PHILIPPA LAMB: or some other household bill in lieu of the mortgage?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Depends on the bill, really. It needs to be tied to the house.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So, say you were paying utility bills, maybe you’re paying for a cleaner, would that do it?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: No.

MIKE: No.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Or the Council Tax?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: No, a cleaner wouldn’t do it.

PHILIPPA LAMB: No. So that’s really worth thinking about for people living in someone - in a property which isn’t in their name.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yeah, yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: A very significant issue. Does it matter if you have children together in that situation?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Completely different in that the children have claims. That - so the parent who’s the one who’s lost out on the deal, she (as it probably is) can make claims on behalf of the children -

PHILIPPA LAMB: for maintenance? -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: for maintenance, but also for things like, “Oh, he’s great at the piano, I want him to go and spend three weeks in Germany this summer”. And if the money’s there in the relationship or in the - with the other person, then you can claim lump sums. You can also claim to stay in the house on behalf of the children until they’re adults, because of their accommodation needs. But it’s very complicated and not straightforward at all.

PHILIPPA LAMB: OK, so Jasper, have [you] and your partner talked about that sort of thing?

JASPER: Yeah, for me it was always explained. So, when we moved to London, he owned the apartment outright. He was basically my landlord. I think that’s probably the best way to describe it, and that’s how you need to see it. We sold that apartment two and a half years later and bought a property together. And then from that moment onwards, of course, things will have changed. I think it’s - you should never consider, even if you contribute like, how are you going to prove that? It’s going to be incredibly messy -

MIKE: really, really hard -

JASPER: and you just need to consider it like you’re paying your partner rent. Yeah, I think that’s the best way to describe it.

MIKE: You say that, but people aren’t always thinking about it from that perspective because, back in the day there used to be one breadwinner of the household. And if that person - maybe it was the man of the house that was “bringing in the bacon”, as they say, and the income - and maybe the wife was taking care of the children, then she may not -

PHILIPPA LAMB: or the girlfriend -

MIKE: or the girlfriend in this case - then she may not have all of the financials to feel like she’s contributing to justify the beneficial interest of the household, effectively.

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Avoiding the money conversation

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PHILIPPA LAMB: As we all know, if there’s kids, someone certainly initially is staying at home to look after them and maybe cutting down their work or not working altogether, possibly for very long periods of time. So, then you do get that financial inequality, and it is, yes, mostly even now still women, isn’t it? So, this is definitely something to think about. Do you often see, Mike, people with whom they’ve shared a home for years and they don’t have anything in writing?

MIKE: Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: You do?

MIKE: Yeah. It happens a lot.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Wow.

MIKE: Even if you think about wills in general, I think about 47% of people don’t have wills, still.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Yeah.

JASPER: It all comes down to it’s one of those things that a lot of people just don’t understand well.

MIKE: Yeah.

JASPER: And they’re putting it off.

MIKE: Yes.

JASPER: And time goes really fast and it’s the same with other financial things. And being a marketeer in pensions, I can feel the pain, because it’s one of those things you’ll put off.

MIKE: Yeah.

JASPER: You do that on a Sunday afternoon when it’s raining. “Let’s just look at that will. Let’s look at our situation. Let’s have that conversation”. But you’ll be watching Netflix instead, I think. And that’s the problem. That you need to fight that inertia kicking in and take control and talk to you (Mike) and you (Philippa) about what are my circumstances like? Because time flies.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And with marriage, of course, we’re here we’re talking about legalities and money. This is a romantic relationship. There’s trust there, right? So, Philippa, tell me, but I’m guessing that that’s the thing that stops otherwise perfectly rational people thinking about this in a way that they might otherwise do - if it was a business relationship, for example.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: You mean they don’t want to suggest that there may come a time when the other person’s going to behave badly?

PHILIPPA LAMB: Yeah, well, it doesn’t occur to them, they’re in love. We’ve all been there.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Jasper, you were saying you didn’t want things to go wrong if you split up from your partner, but of course it doesn’t have to go wrong.

JASPER: Yeah.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: For a lot of people, they’re really decent.

JASPER: Yeah.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: And they’re fair. And actually, whether you’re married or unmarried, we tend to know about the minority of people who behave badly for whatever reason - rage, jealousy, mental health, whatever it is. But a lot of people don’t behave badly. So, the benefits, I suppose, of getting married, other than the fact that I think it’s a lovely romantic gesture, it’s going to be tax isn’t it really?

MIKE: Yeah, it’s going to be tax. Jasper, you mentioned it earlier, a lot of people just don’t know. A lot of people are not looking into this. A lot of people are delaying [their] actions. It’s very easy to just kick the can down the road.

JASPER: You talked about marriage being almost like a template.

MIKE: Yeah.

JASPER: If you get married, you get a set of circumstances and rule sets. Even if you’re not very much in the know, it gives you a framework, safety net.

MIKE: Yeah.

JASPER: But I still believe that beyond that framework or the template -

MIKE: yes -

JASPER: you’ve got to switch your mind on when it comes to these things. Sometimes marriage might not be adequate if there’s wealth involved on both sides, for example. So, I do think people need to keep thinking and don’t rely on it too much.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And also, it’s that nice feeling you get, and I really, this is what drives me to get financial stuff done. It feels so good when you’ve done it.

MIKE: Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Doesn’t it? It feels so, “OK, job done”.

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How pensions are shared

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PHILIPPA LAMB: I want to ask about pensions because we’ve talked about property, we’ve talked about kids. Pensions are often a huge asset in a relationship, aren’t they?

JASPER: Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And if the relationship ends, how the pensions are divided. Do you have any arrangement?

JASPER: Yes, we do.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Impressive.

JASPER: And he’s not getting everything, and I’m not getting anything from his side either -

PHILIPPA LAMB: OK -

JASPER: If one of us passes away, we’ve looked at our retirement planning. I work for a pension firm -

PHILIPPA LAMB: of course -

JASPER: If I [hadn’t] have done that, then it would’ve been a huge scandal. Yeah. So, we’ve looked at our retirement planning, so we know our number, and it means that in my circumstances, some of it’ll go to my nephews, going past my sister, but to the nephews -

PHILIPPA LAMB: that’s for another podcast -

MIKE: we’ll talk about it later -

JASPER: that’s for another podcast -

MIKE: we’ll talk about it later -

JASPER: no, no, no -

MIKE: what did she do?

JASPER: We talked about it and we talked about it. For me, the most important thing was if anything happened to us, “Can I stay in my house? Can he stay in the house?”. Second is, are you financially - [have] you got your number to sustain yourself well and comfortably until the end of your life? The answer is yes. Then other than the romantic reasons, we couldn’t come up with reasons to get married.

PHILIPPA LAMB: I want to ask Philippa about this though, because pensions, as I’ve said, it’s often a huge asset in a relationship. And much like paying a mortgage, paying into a pension can be leveraged and enabled by another partner paying for other stuff. So, it’s not quite as simple as, “Yeah, well, I paid into it, so it’s mine”. If you’re unmarried and you split up, what happens if there’s a big pension pot in the relationship?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: You have no claim.

PHILIPPA LAMB: You’ve got no claim on it.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: You have no claim. And also, if it’s a pension that’s not a private pension, but it’s a -

PHILIPPA LAMB: a workplace pension -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: I think they’ve changed the rules to some extent for unmarried couples. There were cases in the last few years, but as a general rule, you’ll just lose the pension completely.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Really?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So, Philippa, you can put arrangements, legal arrangements, in place in advance of all this, can’t you, against that possibility happening?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Pension Sharing Order (PSO), you can, but only if you’re getting divorced and that’s something the court has to approve.

PHILIPPA LAMB: You can’t have that if you’re not married in the first place?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: No.

MIKE: OK, that’s on the other side.

PHILIPPA LAMB: That’s another point well worth thinking about, particularly I’d say for later life couples or high income couples who’ve got these pension pots can be very substantial. That’s a big asset to walk away from.

JASPER: And I think it’s a really important thing to bear in mind, especially if one partner has a much smaller pension than the other, then I think it becomes a really unfair situation if the person that passes away or you’re getting a divorce has the bigger pot, then the other is literally left with nothing. And we see that quite often at PensionBee.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: But if you’re getting divorced, you’ll have an equality, probably, what the pensions are worth. So, it’s a reason for getting married, a financial reason.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So, I think what we’re saying here is this is something that definitely needs thinking about. Married, unmarried, whatever. If you’re in a relationship, there are pensions involved, have a think about that. It’s not unromantic, it’s just rational.

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Who gets the pets?

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PHILIPPA LAMB: Talking of sharing assets, and it’s very different to pensions, but I want to ask about pets. Because…

MIKE: I was thinking about that.

JASPER: Don’t split those in half.

PHILIPPA LAMB: This is a thing, isn’t it, that’s cropping up in legal disputes quite a lot at the moment. Is there, Philippa, firstly, a difference if you’re married or unmarried on the ownership of your communal pets?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: No, but I can say there’s no difference if you’re married or unmarried.

PHILIPPA LAMB: OK.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: And they’re still, I think, treated as ‘chattel’, so they’re still treated as objects.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So how do the pets -

JASPER: Like a sofa.

PHILIPPA LAMB: How do they get divvied up?

MIKE: You put the pet in the middle, and the parents stand on both sides, and you wait to see which -

JASPER: So, you literally have to have a bickering around who’s getting the sofa, who’s getting the dog.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yeah, and obviously if you’re a vengeful, angry person and you know the other person really loves the dog -

PHILIPPA LAMB: wants the dog -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: then it’s quite a good weapon to employ.

JASPER: Wow.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Have you seen people go to court for their -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yes, they do. Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: And how does the court decide who the dog should go to?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: I think it’s complicated. It’s not really a - it’s not a family case, it’s a civil case. But I think that the judge will use their common sense, look at the people in front of them, work out who paid for the dog, who pays for the vet bills, who takes them for walks the most, who’s at home with them the most -

PHILIPPA LAMB: well, these things are worth thinking about. I’m wondering whether there shouldn’t be some arrangements -

MIKE: keep your receipts -

PHILIPPA LAMB: put in place -

JASPER: keep the receipts -

PHILIPPA LAMB: Can you have shared custody of your pet?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yes, you can have shared, but I don’t - I haven’t seen it written into an order, but certainly a lot of people do have shared arrangements.

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Protecting your partner with a will

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PHILIPPA LAMB: So now we have talked about this sad situation where one partner dies and protecting yourself in that situation, because as you said Mike, I think it’s not even half of adults in this country have a will now. So, there are big implications there. But I’m wondering, Philippa, if setting aside the question of married, not married, does a will - obviously this doesn’t cope with the end of a relationship if you decide to split, but if you stay together, someone dies, and you have wills, are you covered whether you’re married or you’re not?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yes, yes, not for tax, but certainly for who you’re leaving your estate to. Yes, it’d be a very sensible thing to do if you didn’t want to get married, but you love the person you live with and you wouldn’t want to see them on the streets if you died. Certainly, you should make them a beneficiary of your will.

PHILIPPA LAMB: But Mike, I’m guessing, lots of people you deal with don’t do that. And tax-wise, as you’ve said, it’s not as advantageous, right?

MIKE: If you’re not married. Yeah, definitely. I think you have to be very careful about the consequences of that. And this is where the planning comes into place because it’s only at that point that people start to really identify what’s important to them and what they actually want to hold onto. A lot of the time I’m speaking to people about property being passed on to their siblings, spouses from a previous relationship, stuff like that, and having to find out at the end that it’s not what they originally thought it was going to be, because they haven’t put those structures in place.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Philippa, if you hadn’t got married and you just decided you were going to cohabit with your partner, what legal arrangements would you have put in place to do that?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: None, I imagine.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Really? You’re a lawyer!

PHILIPPA DOLAN: I know. It’s a cobbler’s shoes, isn’t it? I haven’t got a pension. I’m the worst person.

MIKE: We’re going to have a chat, Philippa.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Yeah, I think that’s absolutely right. Everyone’s shocked, very, very shocked.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: But I probably wouldn’t. obviously, what you should do is make sure that they’re on the title, investigate pensions. Anything else, any other property you’ve got -

PHILIPPA LAMB: pets? -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: yeah.

JASPER: I think if you decide not to get married and you live together for a long time, I think for me, I always compare it to - it’s almost like a self-invested relationship instead of a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). Like it’s a ‘do-it-yourself’ arrangement. You really have to think about the details, like, “OK, so what do we do with the house? What do we do with the pensions?”. Like you’ve just mentioned, you’ve got to do the work though. If you’re not doing anything, you see many of those as your clients, you’ll be left in tears.

MIKE: Yeah.

JASPER: So, you’ll have to do the work. I think the argument for marriage, if you - aside from the romantic side of things, is it does give you that template, so things will get sorted. But if you’re not getting married, it’s like it’s a self-invested relationship.

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Cohabitation Agreements and annual reviews

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PHILIPPA LAMB: Can you have a prenup if you’re not married? A version of a prenup as it were.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Well, yes, you can. You can have a Cohabitation Agreement.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So, is that what people should be doing then?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: The property and the pensions are probably the main issues, but some people do, and you can put all sorts of things in them.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Lay out proper rational -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yeah, who’s going to take out - who gets what, the rubbish, who’s going to take the dog for a walk whenever, who’s going to - you can put it in agreement. It probably does help. Personally, I couldn’t be arsed, but it probably would help if you had -

PHILIPPA LAMB: do you really want to use that phrase? -

MIKE: that’s exactly the problem -

JASPER: “I couldn’t be arsed” -

MIKE: “I couldn’t be arsed”. For most people.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: But maybe I can imagine, I know some people who probably would benefit from that, and they’d stick to the rules, and it’d make their relationship more relaxed.

PHILIPPA LAMB: But Jasper, you don’t have one of those, Jasper.

JASPER: No, we don’t. And I think the only thing I’d say is what we do on an annual basis, we made the agreement on an annual basis to just revisit some of the things we said we were going to do. I couldn’t - we bought the house in 2012. Give you an example. I’ve been building up my pension since I moved to London in 2009. Guess what? My nephews were born and they’re six and 11. So guess what? You got to, “Where does the money go when I pass away?”. You got to change. You got to tweak. Maybe not every year but make it a habit every year. Use that rainy Sunday afternoon and actually look at it again. Because if you’re not getting married, you’ve set up the rules yourself. So, you also make sure that you have to stick to those rules or you have to make changes.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So, do you do that with your partner?

JASPER: Every year we’ll have a conversation - “OK, what do you think?”.

PHILIPPA LAMB: You do?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Is he equally keen?

JASPER: Yeah.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Is one of you more proactive than the other?

JASPER: He was always more keen than I was. But I’ve been on a journey. And I’ve seen the light. I think it’s really important that you love each other, so you also look after each other.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Yeah.

JASPER: And therefore, review it on a regular basis because things can change. Over time our incomes will have changed. We look at each other’s wealth. It’s like, “What does everybody - and are you OK? Are you comfortable?”. These -

PHILIPPA LAMB: who’s paying for what? -

JASPER: yeah. And this isn’t about - this isn’t romantic - this isn’t killing any romantic relationship. These are reasonable questions you need to ask yourself.

MIKE: I think the problem is people focus too much on the actual paperwork and not the intentions behind it.

JASPER: Yeah.

MIKE: What’s important to you? A financial plan isn’t a piece of paper, it’s an evolving plan. So, as your situation changes, so should your plan. I think sometimes people are worried too much [about] the contractual agreement as opposed to if somebody was to pass away, “What does that actually look like for your kids? What does that look like for your partner?”.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Or even just the relationship comes to an end.

JASPER: Yeah.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Because that’s what, that’s what thankfully normally happens in relationship breakup. It’s before, it’s earlier in life and people just go their separate ways. But you still got all this stuff to untangle, haven’t you? And Philippa and I know, both know about this from having gone through divorce. It’s complicated and we were married. If we hadn’t been, it would’ve been more complicated, wouldn’t it?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Yes, I think that’s right. It’s more to talk about anyway.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Yeah, because I think we do hesitate. I think it feels unromantic. Maybe it feels a bit confronting, as you say. Maybe the guy’s not going to feel so great about you raising it. Maybe it’ll feel like an accusation. And all these things play into you don’t have the conversation. And if you’re unmarried -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Your idea is a really good one, Jasper’s idea -

PHILIPPA LAMB: the annual chat -

PHILIPPA DOLAN: about having an annual chat, because [of] the trouble with talking about those issues out of the blue, it’s going to raise suspicions, never mind anything else.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Why is she asking? Yeah, why is he asking?

JASPER: It’s in our calendar.

MIKE: Like an annual review?

JASPER: Yeah, in December.

MIKE: With the Financial Advisor.

JASPER: I think it sounds very unromantic. It sounds almost like a business meeting. But I think if you’re living together without any arrangements in place, I think that’s the least you should expect, without raising any suspicions. But it’s like, “Has anything changed?”. I think that should be [a] staple in anybody’s cohabiting relationship.

‍

A fairer end to relationships

‍

PHILIPPA LAMB: I should say, Philippa, this is a particularly key time for us to be talking about this, because there’s been a consultation, hasn’t there, about how to end relationships in a fairer way [legally]. Tell us a bit about that.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Well, it’s quite a bit of a mishmash, actually, because they put together cohabitation rights, which I think everyone, or nearly everyone, agrees is a good idea. They’ve also raised the idea that prenups and - prenuptial agreements and postnuptial agreements, called Qualifying Nuptial Agreements, are going to be - at the moment it’s quite discretionary - I say that, [but] if you tick certain boxes, chances are that the court will uphold the agreement, right? But the judge retains discretion even still.

So, I think the idea is they’re going to be set in stone so that if you again tick the boxes, then your prenup or post-nup will be recognised and upheld. And there’s also stuff about - the other one was having more codification of the financial rules, insofar as there are rules, governing divorce so that there’ll be more certainty because we have, in this country, we’re very - it’s a bit of a gamble quite often if you’re getting divorced. It’s not clear in the way that lots of countries have a more codified approach.

PHILIPPA LAMB: So, the plan is more clarity, more certainty around money in relationships. This is married or unmarried?

PHILIPPA DOLAN: This is both, actually.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Really helpful.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: It’s to cover everything, and it sort of falls in and out of domestic abuse, but I’m not entirely sure why. And the one thing it doesn’t mention is how can you afford legal advice. And of course, because Legal Aid’s disappeared almost entirely, people can’t get legal advice any longer if they don’t have the money.

PHILIPPA LAMB: That’s a point well made -

MIKE: that’s a very good point -

PHILIPPA LAMB: if you end up legally wrangling with your partner who you’re not married to, the person with the deepest pockets is probably going to come out on top.

PHILIPPA DOLAN: Oh absolutely.

JASPER: Absolutely.

PHILIPPA LAMB: Yeah. Another thing to think about.

MIKE: Another reason to get married!

PHILIPPA LAMB: This is why we have this podcast, to chew over the pros and cons.

JASPER: Well, you’ve heard it here first.

MIKE: You’ve heard it here first.

PHILIPPA LAMB: I think it’s been very interesting. Thank you all very much indeed.

JASPER: Been a pleasure.

MIKE: Yes, it’s been great.

PHILIPPA LAMB: We’ll be taking a short break in August, but we’ll be releasing a special bonus episode with our Series Producer, Lucy Greenwell, looking back on the best bits from our Series 5 so far. Just a reminder, anything discussed on the podcast shouldn’t be regarded as financial advice or as legal advice, and when investing, your capital is at risk. Thanks for being with us. We’ll see you next time.

‍

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

How bond markets reacted to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham, and what it might mean for you

New Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, took office on Monday 20 July. Find out how the bond markets reacted, and why it could matter for you and your pension.

With former Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, becoming Prime Minister, you might’ve heard about how the bond markets have reacted.

The government relies on borrowing through bonds. So, when those markets move, it can have implications for the wider economy, your money, and even your pension.

Find out what we know about the new Prime Minister so far, who’s in his cabinet, and why the bond markets could be important to both Burnham’s premiership and your finances.

Some small, early policy changes, but nothing too concrete - yet

So far, Burnham’s given little away in terms of policy. But we’ve seen a few early changes that suggest what sort of leader he intends to be. That includes:

a cut in VAT on electricity bills from October, saving the average household around £45 a year;
reverting the cap on bus fares outside London to £2 from January, which Keir Starmer had increased to £3 at the start of last year; and
a 20% cut in business rates for English pubs, clubs, and live music venues from April.

The Prime Minister did also mention the frozen Personal Allowance for Income Tax, too. The threshold has been frozen at £12,570 since 2021, dragging more people into paying tax over time.

Burnham said he heard much frustration around the allowance during the Makerfield by-election.

He’s since said that he’s not making any “immediate commitment” to changing the threshold. However, he did add that it could be considered at the next Budget this Autumn.

Beyond that, Burnham’s priorities are a little less defined and it’s yet to be seen where he’ll focus his attention.

As Manchester Mayor, his ideology focused around a belief in business friendly socialism. In essence, he looked to support the UK’s free market while prioritising social programmes that improve peoples’ lives.

Meanwhile, it rejects the beliefs of neoliberalism, which focuses on free markets and reduced government spending.

Burnham's been highly critical of this form of governance and its policies, such as trickle-down economics.

With those principles that he followed as Mayor of Manchester in mind, the Prime Minister looks set to explore these on a national level. To now, his priorities include:

helping with the cost of living;
higher infrastructure investment; and
increased defence spending.

However, the issue he faces is that Britain’s become increasingly reliant on borrowing via the bond markets to fund day-to-day spending and long-term investment.

Debt levels are elevated and demands on the public finances continue to grow, from healthcare and pensions to defence and infrastructure.

That means he’ll need to raise the money somehow, and borrowing more in bonds might be the lever he chooses to pull - more on this in a moment.

Burnham’s cabinet includes a few familiar faces

While Burnham’s the man in the top job, it’s also important to consider his cabinet. The Prime Minister’s responsible for the government’s decisions at large. But it’s the Members of Parliament in his cabinet who’ll have to deliver the policy work.

That makes this group of high-ranking politicians just as important for you and for markets.

Burnham’s cabinet includes a number of people who played a key part in Keir Starmer’s government. That includes former Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner. She returns to her role at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, although not as Deputy leader.

Meanwhile, former Defence Secretary John Healey’s now Chancellor. Former Health Secretary Wes Streeting's stepping in at the Ministry of Defence.

Others have also kept their previous roles. That includes:

Pat McFadden as Work and Pensions Secretary, with Torsten Bell as Pensions Minister;
Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary; and
Sir Alan Campbell as Leader of the Commons.

Eyes will certainly be on Chancellor John Healey as he tries to balance the books while managing the government’s spending.

Similarly, Torsten Bell will be able to continue work on his plans of streamlining the pensions system and boosting UK investment.

View the whole of Burnham’s cabinet.

Bond markets have reacted negatively

This brings us to the bond markets.

Bonds are loans investors make to companies or governments. In the case of UK government bonds, they’re also known as ‘gilts’.

When bond interest rates rise, it means the cost of borrowing the money’s increased, making it more expensive. Think of it like a personal loan or mortgage - if the interest rate rises, so do your repayments.

Over time, that can make it even more difficult for the government to borrow money. As the government’s overall debt increases, lenders might view it as riskier to lend to. In turn, that can fuel higher interest rates and more expensive borrowing, and so on.

This can also happen in response to uncertainty in government, or changes that lenders perceive to be financially bad.

These changes may sound intangible, but they’re hugely important to the Prime Minister. In fact, it was a sudden rise in bond yields that forced the Bank of England to intervene after Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous Mini-Budget in September 2022.

Before he became Prime Minister, Burnham and the bond markets already had somewhat of an adversarial relationship.

Back in 2025 when he was Manchester Mayor, Burnham said that he thought the UK government shouldn’t be at the mercy of the bond markets.

At that time, the 10-year gilt yield - that’s the bond’s interest rate divided by the price - hovered around 4.73%.

Markets were relatively calm after Burnham initially announced he was throwing his hat in the ring for Prime Minister. But after taking office and naming his cabinet, they were less buoyant.

Gilt yields rose above 5% on Monday 20 July, and stayed there overnight. That was largely in response to his statements that he’d look for “flexibility” within the government’s spending rules.

If the new Prime Minister and Chancellor intend to spend freely to achieve his goals, we could see yields stay higher for longer.

What higher gilt yields could mean for your money

A change in Prime Minister could be consequential for all of us. Policy changes could affect you directly, positively and negatively. Or it could be indirectly if they influence things like economic growth or inflation.

Likewise, bond yields don’t just matter to the government - they could also affect you and your individual finances.

When gilt yields rise, it can filter through into other forms of borrowing, including mortgage rates.

Not only might that put a squeeze on your money as a whole, but it can also influence everything from housing market activity to consumer spending.

It could also affect your pension, depending on what type of scheme you have.

Defined contribution - with these schemes, your savings are usually held in a range of different investments. So, it depends on the plan you have and how much of it is held in bonds, rather than stocks and shares. If your plan does include gilts, you could see shifts in the value of your savings.
Defined benefit - also known as ‘final salary’ pensions, this type pays a fixed income, usually for life. To do so, schemes often invest heavily in gilts, giving them certainty over the incomes so they’re able to pay out to their members. A rise in yields can reduce costs for schemes. However, it can also lower the value of your pot if you wanted to transfer it to a defined contribution scheme.

As we wait to see what’ll happen next with Burnham’s government, there might not be an immediate need to make changes to your money or pensions.

It’s still very early days, and we don’t know exactly what the priorities will be. We’ll likely learn a lot more at the Autumn Budget later in the year.

In the meantime, it can be sensible to stick to your plan and keep following the fundamentals of saving for the future. That means:

making the most of pension tax rules and allowances while they’re favourable;
taking advantage of tax relief to boost your contributions; and
contributing what you can afford to build long-term security.

Whatever direction Burnham’s government takes, it’ll be well worth staying across his premiership. Being informed can help you adapt as and where you need to.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Planning a golden gap year? Here's what to check before you go

More people in their 50s and 60s are taking an extended break with a 'golden gap year'. If you're thinking about doing the same, find out what to check first.

How to make your child a millionaire

It's a common goal for parents and grandparents to support children financially. Find out how you could build them a million-pound pot by the time they turn 67.

Most parents save for the milestones that come early: university, a first car, a gap year, maybe a deposit on a first home. There's one milestone that rarely makes that list, and it might just be the biggest one of all: their child's retirement

It can feel strange to even think about, when your child is still small enough to fit into nappies. But retirement is one of those goals where starting early really does make an outsized difference, simply because the longer money is invested, the more time it has to grow.

Plenty of parents know about the Junior ISAs (JISA). Fewer have come across Junior Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP), even though the two have a lot in common. Both let you invest on your child's behalf, and both let that money grow free from UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

Where they really part ways is timing. One is there for your child to spend once they reach adulthood. The other is there for them to use in retirement.

Junior ISA: help for life's first big steps

A JISA is built to help your child get started in adult life. You can pay in up to £9,000 a year (2026/27), and the money grows free from CGT while it's invested. When your child turns 18, the account simply becomes an adult Individual Savings Account (ISA), and from that point on, it's theirs to use.

For many families, that's what makes a JISA so valuable. It can help build a lump sum over the years, ready for some of the biggest milestones of early adulthood

A JISA can be held in two different ways.

Cash JISA - this works much like a regular savings account. You put in money and earn tax-free interest. Cash is usually lower risk and lower reward. While the money is safe from stock market ups and downs, it might lose its purchasing power if inflation is higher than the interest you earn.
Stocks and Shares JISA - with this type, through either specific company shares or a diversified index fund. Investing is usually higher risk and higher reward. The value of stocks can go up and down, so while there’s a chance to make more money, there’s also a chance to lose some.

One of the biggest advantages of a Stocks and Shares JISA is that your child can't access the money until they turn 18. That built-in restriction encourages long-term saving, giving investments more time to ride out short-term market ups and downs and potentially grow over the years.

The trade-off is equally clear. Once your child turns 18, the account automatically becomes an adult ISA and the money is legally theirs. They can keep it invested, withdraw some of it, or spend it however they choose.

As your child approaches their 18th birthday, it's worth having an open conversation about the account. Explaining how much is there, what it could be used for, and the potential benefits of leaving some or all of it invested could help them make a more informed decision when the time comes.

Junior SIPP: help decades down the line

A Junior SIPP works towards a very different goal. Rather than helping your child at 18, it's designed to support them much later in life when they retire.

As most children have no earnings, you can pay in up to £2,880 each tax year (2026/27), and HMRC tops that up with tax relief.

The money then stays invested until the Normal Minimum Pension Age (NMPA), which is currently 55, due to rise to 57 in April 2028. For a child born today, that means nearly six decades for their money to grow before they can touch it.

How the government top up works

Most UK taxpayers get a 25% tax top up from the government, so if you pay in £100 in eligible contributions, HMRC usually adds £25, bringing the total to £125. It's one of the few places where the government is actively adding money to your child's future alongside your own.

This isn't limited to parents, either. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends can all contribute to a child's pension too, and it's a lovely alternative to another toy for a birthday or Christmas.

For example, if you pay in £100 a month on someone's behalf, the government tops that up to £125, and over a year, that's £1,500 going into their pension from your £1,200 in contributions.

What difference does this actually make?

Imagine you pay in £100 a month from the day your child is born until they turn 18, then stop and leave the money invested from there. The family pays in exactly the same amount either way, but the outcomes look quite different, because every Junior SIPP contribution gets a top up, meaning more money is invested from the very start.

	Junior SIPP	Junior ISA
Your monthly contribution	£100	£100
Government top up	£25	-
Monthly amount invested	£125	£100
Total family contributions	£21,600	£21,600
Total invested (including top up)	£27,000	£21,600
Projected value at age 67	£317,300	£253,800

Source: Calculator.net. Based on an investment growth assumption of 5% a year, after a 0.70% annual management fee. These figures are examples only, shown in today's money.

Under these assumptions, the Junior SIPP grows to around £317,300 by age 67, compared with around £253,800 for the JISA. That's a gap of roughly £63,500, and it comes entirely from the same £21,600 the family paid in either way.

Reaching £1 million

You can contribute up to £2,880 net a year into a Junior SIPP, or £240 a month. Whether that grows to £1 million by age 67 depends largely on the investment growth you assume.

Under the assumption of 5% annual growth, contributing the maximum from birth to age 18 could build a pension pot of around £761,500 by age 67, just short of £1 million. Under a more optimistic 8% annual growth assumption, the same contributions could grow to around £4.1 million by age 67.

At that growth rate, even a much smaller monthly contribution could grow to more than £1 million over the same period.

You pay in	HMRC adds	Total invested each month	Projected value at 67 (5% growth)	Projected value at 67 (8% growth)
£50	£13	£63	£158,600	£863,300
£59	£15	£74	£187,000	£1,000,000
£100	£25	£125	£317,300	£1,712,600
£150	£38	£188	£475,900	£2,575,700
£200	£50	£250	£634,500	£3,424,300
£240 (maximum)	£60	£300	£761,500	£4,108,800

Source: Calculator.net. Based on investment growth assumptions of 5% and 8% a year, after a 0.70% annual management fee. These figures are examples only, shown in today's money.

What this really shows is how much of the work is done by starting early, rather than by paying in large amounts later on. Parents who want to save beyond the Junior SIPP allowance could also use a JISA alongside it, since the two can complement each other by helping your child at different points in life.

A simple way to boost this further

There's a tweak that can make a real difference over 18 years: increasing your contribution slightly each year, rather than leaving it fixed at the same amount the whole time.

Say you start at £100 a month and simply raise it by 5% every year, a modest annual increase, rather than sticking to £100 a month for the full 18 years.

By the time your child turns 18, you'd be contributing around £229 a month, and the family's total contributions would come to around £33,800, compared with £21,600 for a flat £100 a month.

Left to grow under the same assumptions, that could build a pot of around £469,300 by age 67, compared with around £317,300 for the flat contribution.

Remember, investment growth isn’t guaranteed and inflation can’t be predicted. But it's a useful reminder that a modest starting contribution doesn't have to stay modest forever, and even small yearly increases can add up to a meaningfully larger pot by retirement.

So which one is right for your family?

There's no single right answer because each account has a different job to do. A JISA can help your child with the first big milestones of adult life, while a Junior SIPP is designed to support them decades later in retirement. For many families, using both can offer the best of both worlds.

The biggest advantage you can give a child isn't always a larger contribution - but rather more time.

A JISA gives investments around 18 years to grow before your child can access the money. A Junior SIPP gives them 50 years or more, with tax relief boosting every eligible contribution along the way. That extra time gives investment returns longer to compound, which can make a significant difference over the long term.

Whether you're saving for their first steps into adulthood or helping them build financial security for later life, starting early means time can do more of the heavy lifting.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

How can I ask my employer to pay more into my pension?

From understanding Auto-Enrolment rules to preparing for the conversation, here's everything you need to know before asking your employer for higher pension

Bonus episode: “I put my money where my mouth is”

In this bonus episode, we hear from PensionBee customer Sally as she shares her pension story. From decades of putting money into living over saving, and losing her husband suddenly in his 40s, to retirement in her 60s and choosing a pension plan that truly reflects her values.

The following is a transcript of a bonus podcast episode of The Pension Confident Podcast. Listen to the episode or scroll on to read the conversation.

PHILIPPA: Hi, welcome to another ‘Behind the Pensions’ bonus episode. This time we hear from Sally.

SALLY: I’m prepared to take a risk with this money for my value system. I thought rather than just talking about green issues, put your money where your mouth is.

PHILIPPA: This year we’ve been hearing listeners like you talking about their pension stories, and today we hear from Sally. She’s a 66 year old eco-driven retired Accountant from Devon, and she had to cope with a financial upheaval when she least expected it.

I’m Philippa Lamb, and if you haven’t subscribed to The Pension Confident Podcast yet, why not click that subscribe button right now and you’ll never miss an episode.

Meet Sally

‍PHILIPPA: Let’s meet Sally.

SALLY: Hi, I’m Sally. I’m 66 [years old]. I was 66 yesterday, so I’m still getting over that. I live in the South West of England. I trained as an Accountant a long time ago, and I think I’ve always thought money’s to be used. So, I wasn’t the kind of person early days sticking, a little bit away every month. We went travelling, we put our money into doing it, living in a house, doing it up, moving to the next house. And so, we weren’t really that way inclined. So, I’ve always had a principle of giving at least 10% of my income to charity. So, I’ve always given a little bit of this and a little bit of that, £5 standing order to whoever. I never thought to do that for a pension.

PHILIPPA: Now, Veronica Morozova from PensionBee was listening along with me. Hi, Veronica.

VERONICA: Hi, Philippa.

PHILIPPA: Sally, she’s a trained Accountant, yet she still talks about a long period of not really engaging with her pension.

VERONICA: Yeah, and that’s actually very common. Sally’s story is a really good illustration of why, because being financially literate and actively saving for retirement are two different things. One is a skill and the other is more of a habit. So self-employed people, especially, they have no Auto-Enrolment, which is the system that automatically signs employees into a workplace pension. Without an employer to set that up for you, the responsibility falls entirely on you to choose to act, and it’s very easy to keep deferring that. The money-to-be-used mindset is also common with variable income because investing in a house or a business feels more tangible than locking money away for decades.

PHILIPPA: Sure.

VERONICA: But yeah, the numbers make a compelling case for starting early. So, you can use the PensionBee Pension Calculator. So, someone starting with just £5 a month at 25 [years old] could have almost £8,000 extra at 65 [years old]. Compared to just over £4,000 extra if they start at 40 [years old]. So, it’s the same contributions, very different outcome, purely because of time.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, absolutely.

‘Present bias’ and money

‍PHILIPPA: Now, Sally’s relationship with money was completely altered when something utterly unexpected happened to her.

SALLY: So, my husband died suddenly in his 40s. So, wow, every - the landscape changed, everything changed. And I think it made me think, live for now. I thought, well, gosh, I could drop down dead in a year. It made me think more shorter term. So, I think the tricky thing was getting over that and starting to think, I really do need to think about reducing my income now in order to have income later. And of course, the older you get, the more nervous you get about it, really. The more you've actually got to be more sensible, you start being more sensible. Oh, I love having those kinds of conversations, and I love bringing up things like money in, when I’m talking to people, friends and everything, because everybody shuts down, nobody likes it. So, I often say, declare myself, out myself.

PHILIPPA: Isn’t this interesting? With some people who lose a spouse, I think they’d immediately double down and save harder because they’d be worried about not having that safety net. But Sally, for her, that shock of losing her husband, very understandably, I guess, it made her feel she might as well live right in the moment. And then, of course, later she had to consciously rewire that thinking, right?

VERONICA: Yeah. I think grief can really push people toward a ‘life is short’ mindset.

PHILIPPA: Yeah.

VERONICA: I think what makes Sally’s story striking is that she has the financial knowledge.

PHILIPPA: Yeah.

VERONICA: She still had to deliberately relearn how to think long-term. So, this shows that the barrier is often emotional and not just informational. And behavioural economists actually call this the present bias. We consistently overvalue the present relative to the future, and a loss like Sally’s can make that even more powerful.

PHILIPPA: Interesting.

VERONICA: Yeah, and It’s not like we’re saying the goal is to stop living for the now. It’s to make small, consistent provision alongside it so you don’t have to choose between the two.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, and it’s that thing, isn’t it? Money conversation, still one of the great last taboos.

VERONICA: That’s completely right, yeah. Research consistently finds that money is more taboo than politics or religion.

PHILIPPA: It’s amazing, isn’t it?

VERONICA: Yeah, people are just very reluctant to talk about it. And for couples this can be particularly difficult because couples can have different pot sizes, different State Pension entitlements, different planned retirement ages, and all of that affect what’s possible together. And if those conversations aren’t happening, certain assumptions can fill the gap.

PHILIPPA: OK.

VERONICA: "I assumed they had a good pension", for example, is a story that we hear about a lot.

PHILIPPA: Right.

VERONICA: So, for anyone wanting to get a clearer picture, there are some simple first steps that you can take. So, tracking down any old pensions you may’ve lost track of, like the government’s Pension Tracing Service can help with that, and it’s completely free.

PHILIPPA: So, for people who want to take that first step, they can use PensionBee’s Pension Calculator, can’t they, to see where they’re at?

VERONICA: Yes, exactly. [A] really simple tool that’s available on our website.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, and a really good place to start.

Tax efficiency in retirement

‍PHILIPPA: Now Sally, she also showed some real tax savvy, didn’t she, when it came to deciding how and when she was going to start drawing from her pension.

SALLY: There was a period of time when I was 55 plus when I needed some extra income, so I had to make the decision: will I start plundering my little pot of PensionBee now to keep - tide me over? If I do that, it’ll mean that I can’t put all my house money, which will eventually happen, in. As soon as you get the 25% extra from the government, yes, when you withdraw it, you have - you can only, you only get 25% of it tax-free, as I understand it. The 75% of it gets - you have to give the tax back, but 25% you don’t. So, if you do that calculation on that money, you’ve already earned 6% because that’s what the 75%, 25%, 6% looks like. So, it’s a no-brainer in one level, just sitting there, it’ll make 6%. There was another choice which I made, which is that when I started with it, I did a - the age-related one, the one that kind of moves with - if you’re getting older, it’ll go safer. And then I decided to make a choice for the green world and the non- paying the war machines world.

And I thought, well, I want to take - I’m prepared to take a risk with this money for my value system. Put your money where your mouth is. And in PensionBee, I could choose. So, I’ve chosen the green one, which of course has been fantastic.

PHILIPPA: So, Sally’s 6% calculation, does that add up?

VERONICA: Yes. So, Sally’s 6% calculation is indeed correct. Basic rate taxpayers [usually] get 25% tax relief, so [for] every £80 that you put in, the government tops up to £100. And then on withdrawal, 25% is tax-free [up to £268,250], 75% is taxed at [your marginal rate, usually] 20%.

PHILIPPA: So how much do you get back, net?

VERONICA: So, you get £85 on every £80 that you’ve saved.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, that’s really compelling, isn’t it? So, what triggers the [Money Purchase Annual Allowance] (MPAA)?

VERONICA: So, the [Normal Minimum Pension Age] (NMPA), for taking money from a private or workplace pension is currently 55 years old, but this age is set to rise to 57 [years old] on the 6 April 2028. And your annual tax-efficient contribution limit drops from £60,000 down to £10,000 (2026/27).

PHILIPPA: So that’s really worth knowing about.

VERONICA: Exactly, and it’s also really important that just taking your 25% tax-free cash alone without any taxable income doesn’t trigger it.

PHILIPPA: OK, also vital to know.

VERONICA: Exactly. So, Sally was weighing that exact trade-off: income now versus flexibility to put a lump sum back in later. So, if the sums involved are significant, it’s really worth talking to an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) before acting.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, these are really important decisions. Now, in terms of which actual scheme you opt for, more and more people, they do want their pension to reflect their values, don’t they? So, what are the options?

VERONICA: Yes, so we call this values-based investing, and so Sally switched to PensionBee’s Climate Plan. It targets a minimum 10% annual reduction in carbon emissions from the companies in the fund each year and exceeds the EU Paris-Aligned benchmark. And her point about engagement is worth noting. She checks her pot regularly because she cares about what it’s invested in. People who stay actively engaged with their savings tend to make better long-term decisions.

PHILIPPA: Yes, so don’t forget about them.

Sally's vision of retirement

PHILIPPA: Now, Sally, she turns 66 [years old] the day before we recorded this. So, what does retirement look like for her now?

SALLY: I’ve got too many to pack into one life. I’m beginning to realise I should’ve had about three lives, and even then, I probably wouldn’t pack it all in. Certainly, lots of travelling, and when I say travelling, I mean taking a month or six weeks. I cycle, so I go on my bike and, and cycle through Europe. But I do want to paint as well. Like the little picture on the back. I do want to draw and paint more. I like being able to wake up in the morning and listen to the birds for a long time, particularly a robin who sings to me in the morning. I’m sure of it.

PHILIPPA: She’s got a clear vision of how she wants her retirement to be, hasn’t she? I mean, we could all usually spend a bit of time thinking about that.

VERONICA: Yeah, planning for a retirement that you actually want. I think retirement planning should start with the picture, really, not a number. And Sally’s vision is quite specific, and that makes it plannable. So, she’s not stopping, she’s actually shifting. And that’s really worth emphasising because retirement still gives people that image of an ending rather than a new beginning, and that just puts a lot of people off engaging with retirement planning at all.

PHILIPPA: Yeah.

VERONICA: And so, for example, the Pensions UK Retirement Living Standards that have recently been updated give a useful example of how much you might expect to need. So, for example, for a minimum it’s £13,900 for a single person (2026/27).

PHILIPPA: So that’d be a minimum standard of living?

VERONICA: Yes, a minimum standard of living. So quite frugal, I’d say.

PHILIPPA: And if you were looking for a more moderate lifestyle?

VERONICA: Yes, so Pensions UK Retirement Living Standards say that the moderate lifestyle would probably cost about £32,700 a year (2026/27), which would, again, for a single person, cover two weeks holiday abroad, maybe running a car, regular social spending.

PHILIPPA: OK, and if you wanted to push up your standard of living from there, what sort of money would you be aiming at?

VERONICA: So, for a more comfortable standard of living, it would be £45,400 a year (2026/27). These are just rough figures, and the richness that Sally personally describes, the slow breakfast, the yoga, cycling through Europe, they might not necessarily require the top bracket, but it does require not having to worry about having access to that income. So that’s what the pension is for.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, everyone has their own idea, don’t they, about what luxury feels like. For her, it’s those things. But as you say, the not worrying means she can enjoy them.

VERONICA: Exactly. And, one tool that we have is PensionBee’s Retirement Planner, which is available to customers in their online ‘BeeHive’ account, and that can really help connect a real-life vision to an actual savings target.

PHILIPPA: So, some hard numbers.

VERONICA: Exactly. So, a lot of our customers find it very helpful.

PHILIPPA: Thanks, Veronica.

VERONICA: You’re welcome.

PHILIPPA: Thanks to Sally too, of course, for sharing her story with us. Now, if you’d like to find out more about pensions and retirement planning, head to the show notes for this episode. We’ve shared a tonne of resources there for you to explore and use for yourself.

Here’s the final reminder before we go, that anything discussed on the podcast shouldn’t be regarded as financial advice or as legal advice, and of course, when investing, your capital is at risk. Thanks for being with us. We’ll see you next time.

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Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

How PensionBee’s plans are performing in 2026 (as at Q2)

Find out how PensionBee’s plans performed over Q2 2026, and what drove the performance across different regions.

This blog is part of our quarterly plan performance series. Catch up on last quarter’s summary here: How PensionBee’s plans are performing as at Q1 2026.

Much like the soaring temperatures this summer, global financial markets caught their own tailwind in Q2, delivering one of the most resilient recoveries we’ve seen in recent years.

Following a challenging first quarter from the Middle East conflict, the financial markets staged a strong comeback, regaining lost ground to finish on solid footing.

Stock markets and political events across the globe shifted the quarter results. Namely, de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; an exceptional chipmakers rally fueled by hyperscale data centre expansions; Keir Starmer’s resignation as UK Prime Minister; and Kevin Warsh taking the helm as America’s new Federal Reserve Chair.

Let’s dive into how these translated into our plans’ performance over the quarter.

This blog is only meant to provide information. The data comes from our money managers. Performance data covers Q2 (1 Apr - 30 Jun 2026), sourced from money managers. Performance figures are before fees. Past performance isn’t an indicator of future performance. As with all investments, capital is at risk.

PensionBee's default plans

4Plus Plan

The 4Plus Plan is managed by State Street with an end of Q2 equity proportion of 76.7%^ (Q1 26: 31.9%). It’s the default plan for our customers over 50 years of age. The plan is actively managed for volatility in times of market turbulence, whilst targeting an annualised 4% return above the Bank of England base rate, over a minimum five-year period. It aims to balance growth with stability for those approaching retirement or making regular withdrawals.

3-month performance as of 30 June 2026	Year-to-date	3-year annualised performance	5-year annualised performance
6.2%	6.9%	11.8%	6.8%

^ Asset allocation, including equity exposure, can change on a weekly basis due to the plan’s actively managed component.

Global Leaders Plan

The Global Leaders Plan is managed by BlackRock with an equity proportion of 100%. It’s the default plan for our customers aged under 50. The plan invests in around 1,000 of the largest public companies globally. It aims to maximise the growth of pension savings in the years before retirement.

3-month performance as of 30 June 2026	Year-to-date	3-year annualised performance^	5-year annualised performance^
17.1%	12.2%	N/a	N/a

^ The plan was launched in February 2025, so performance data for the 3-year and 5-year periods is currently unavailable.

PensionBee's specialist plans

Climate Plan

The Climate Plan is managed by State Street with an equity proportion of 100%. The plan objectives, following a Paris-Aligned Benchmark and reducing portfolio carbon emissions by 10% a year, are set out in the plan factsheet, which explains how these targets are measured and reported.

3-month performance as of 30 June 2026	Year-to-date	3-year annualised performance^	5-year annualised performance^
13.9%	9.1%	N/a	N/a

^ The new Paris-aligned strategy was launched in September 2024, so performance data for the 3-year and 5-year periods is currently unavailable.

Shariah Plan

The Shariah Plan is managed by HSBC and traded by State Street with an equity proportion of 100%. The plan invests in the S&P Global Shariah index of over 500 stocks that meet Shariah compliance principles, as set by an independent Shariah Committee.

3-month performance as of 30 June 2026	Year-to-date	3-year annualised performance	5-year annualised performance
19.4%	14.6%	21.6%	15.6%

PensionBee's other plans

Tracker Plan

The Tracker Plan is managed by State Street with an equity proportion of 80%. The remaining 20% is allocated to fixed income. The plan offers a cost-effective way to follow global markets as they move.

3-month performance as of 30 June 2026	Year-to-date	3-year annualised performance	5-year annualised performance
12.1%	10.3%	16.4%	9.2%

Preserve Plan

The Preserve Plan is a money market fund managed by State Street. The plan makes short-term investments in highly creditworthy companies to preserve capital. It's designed for savers who want to take less investment risk, in exchange for lower potential returns.

3-month performance as of 30 June 2026	Year-to-date	3-year annualised performance	5-year annualised performance
1.0%	1.9%	4.8%	3.6%

Learn more about how your pension’s invested

Your pension can be invested in a range of assets like company shares (stocks), bonds, real estate, commodities and cash. Your pension balance fluctuates depending on how these assets perform. See below for a summary of global markets and the performance of our key asset classes in Q2 2026.

How did global stock markets perform in Q2 2026?

Global stock markets showed a stunning comeback with multiple major stock indices soaring.

Stock index	Investment location	3-month performance as at 30 June 2026
MSCI Asia ex-Japan	Asia excluding Japan	27.8%
FTSE Japan	Japan	15.9%
S&P 500	US	14.9%
MSCI Europe ex-UK	Europe excluding UK	14.4%
FTSE 350	UK	4.6%

^ Source: MSCI, FTSE Russell, S&P Global. Data as at 30 June 2026.

Please note that the performance figures above are reported in local currencies, except for the MSCI Asia ex-Japan, which is reported in USD due to the use of multiple currencies among its constituents.

Asia

The tech-heavy Asian market led the way. South Korea’s leading stock index, KOSPI, posted a stellar return of 68%* over the quarter. The key drivers of the index were chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, two of only three companies that make the HBM (high-bandwidth memory) chips that power data centre builds. The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index posted a 27.8% return.

Japan had a solid quarter too. While tech companies like SoftBank drove significant gains, a weak yen played a key role. In an export-heavy economy like Japan, the majority of corporate earnings are generated in US dollars. When these overseas earnings were converted back into a depreciated yen, it translated into record high corporate returns.

* Source: Korea Exchange index data via investing.com, data as at 30 June 2026.

US

Stock investors shifted their interest back into the technology sector, the growth-oriented US stocks had a great quarter, enjoying solid double digit gains as the S&P 500 posted a 14.9% return. The rally was driven by resilient corporate earnings and a de-escalation of conflict in the Middle East that eased global inflation concerns, and renewed AI enthusiasm.

However, there is still a lingering worry about whether the AI bubble may burst. The world’s largest tech companies are pouring huge amounts of business capital into data centre builds without guaranteed near-term returns.

Just as valuation fears increased, the market found a bit of a safety valve in Washington. The notoriously hawkish Kevin Warsh made his debut as the new Chair of the US Federal Reserve in mid-June. In his first Federal Open Market Committee meeting (a group from the US central bank that makes interest rate change decisions), Warsh decided to hold the interest rates steady. This decision gave much needed breathing room to capital-consuming tech giants, and access to stable borrowing costs to fund their hyperscaling data centre projects.

Europe

Europe saw a more balanced return profile across both growth and value, led by the technology and financial sectors. The Netherlands emerged as the top performer among European peers. The Dutch chipmaking powerhouse, ASML, delivered strong earnings results thanks to a massive surge in equipment orders, as chipmakers scrambled to expand capacity for hyperscale data centre projects.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) increased rates at its June meeting. Spanish banks were able to charge more for loans while keeping savings rates very low. This had rapidly increased their profits and attracted stock investors' interest. The MSCI Europe ex-UK posted a solid 14.9% return.

UK

The UK posted a modest gain, with the FTSE 350 up 4.6% over the quarter. The UK market showed great resilience by balancing out sharp movements between its heavyweight energy and financial sectors. This dynamic was triggered when the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end their conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. As a result, global oil prices started falling, resulting in declines in energy stocks.

However, the financial sector emerged as a major beneficiary of the agreement. Falling crude prices significantly eased global inflation fears, giving investors the confidence to rotate into value-oriented sectors like financial services.

On the political side, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement that he would step down caused barely a ripple, as markets had already priced in the transition well in advance. Investors were prepared for his expected successor, Andy Burnham. In fact, the market seemed to favour the political shift, responding positively to Burnham’s recent signals toward a tightening of fiscal policy.

How did UK bond markets perform in Q2 2026?

UK bond markets experienced a volatile but strong quarter with both corporate and government bonds posting returns. The MSCI GBP Investment Grade Corporate Bond gained 2.8%, while the Bloomberg Barclays UK Gilts gained 2.1%.

Bond index	Bond types and maturities	3-month performance as at 30 June 2026
MSCI GBP Investment Grade Corporate Bond Index	UK Corporate with mixed maturities	2.8%
Bloomberg Barclays UK Gilt Index	UK Government with mixed maturities	2.1%

As of 30 June 2026, the 4Plus Plan’s bond allocation was 16.3% and the Tracker Plan's UK gilt allocation was 9.8%. Index Source: MSCI and Bloomberg.

Despite the strong quarter, UK government bonds (also known as gilts) endured a bumpy ride over the three months. The gilt yields fluctuated sharply in May following the Labour Party’s losses in local elections, which triggered Keir Starmer’s resignation as Prime Minister later in the quarter.

However, the impact from this domestic news was neutralised by global geopolitical relief. Driven by the US and Iran agreement and the subsequent reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on 17 June, the oil price eventually dropped. This led to easing inflation fears, fuelling a powerful bond rally. 10-year UK gilt yields ended around 4.88%.

Conclusion

Looking back, the diverging returns of Q1 and Q2 serve as a great reminder of how resilient financial markets are. Ultimately, the volatility and subsequent recovery witnessed this quarter is just one of many cycles the market has successfully navigated in the past and, of course, will handle in the future.

Have a question? Get in touch!

Do you want to know more about your pension plan with PensionBee? Learn more about the top 10 holdings in your pension fund on our blog, which is regularly updated. You can also look at our Plans page to learn how your money is invested in different assets and locations, or log in to your BeeHive to see your specific plan. You can always send comments and questions to our team via engagement@pensionbee.com.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

What do heatwaves have to do with your pension?

The 2026 heatwaves this summer so far have seen record temperatures in the UK, and there's a link to what it means for your pension. Find out why.

Your pension has its own inheritance rules - and many people don't know them

Your pension doesn't work like the rest of your estate when you die, something many people don't know. Find out how your loved ones will inherit your pension.

What are money scripts - and what do they mean for your pension?

The beliefs you hold about money may influence how you save for retirement. Learn how money scripts can shape your pension decisions.

Most of us like to think our financial decisions are rational. We weigh up the options, consider what we can afford and make sensible choices.

But money is more than arithmetic. It's personal, and maybe surprisingly, it’s emotional. And the feelings it stirs up can shape our financial decisions just as much as the numbers do.

Our attitudes to money don't appear overnight. Many are shaped by lessons we picked up early in life, and those beliefs can still influence how we save for retirement today.

These beliefs are known as money scripts.

What is a money script?

The term was coined by financial psychologists Brad Klontz, Ted Klontz and Rick Kahler. They describe money scripts as beliefs about money that we didn't consciously choose. They're shaped by childhood experiences, family attitudes and the messages we absorbed growing up.

Maybe money was rarely discussed at home. You might have experienced financial hardship, or grown up feeling that money was something to worry about rather than talk about openly.

Over time, these experiences become internal rules about how money should be earned, spent, saved or avoided. We may not even realise they're there, but they can influence financial decisions for decades.

A 2025 study in the Journal of Financial Therapy found a direct link between how money was talked about in childhood and the money scripts we carry into adulthood.

It may help explain why two people in similar situations can think about money in completely different ways.

The four money scripts

Money beliefs aren't usually one-size-fits-all. Most people have a mix of attitudes that shape how they think about spending, saving and planning for the future.

There are four broad money scripts, and each shows up differently when it comes to pensions.

Money avoidance

People with a money avoidance script often carry a belief that money is somehow negative. They may believe that wealthy people are greedy, or that wanting more makes you shallow. Perhaps they’ve grown up in households where finances were never openly discussed.

As adults, that can lead to a tendency to disengage from money altogether by:

leaving pension statements unopened;
avoiding logging into any finance related accounts; and
putting off financial decisions indefinitely.

This is often because engaging with money feels emotionally uncomfortable.

A PensionBee report on pension procrastination found that 53% of UK adults say they've given their pension a fair amount of thought. Yet fewer than one-in-five plan to review or increase their contributions. A third say their pension simply isn't a priority right now.

For many, the gap between intention and action isn't about laziness but rather about discomfort.

Money worship

Money worship is built on the belief that more money will lead to greater happiness. The idea behind it is that wealth is the answer, and there's never quite enough of it.

People with this script often work hard and chase financial success, but struggle to feel satisfied with what they have.

Typically, for those with a money worship script:

spending feels rewarding;
saving feels restrictive; and
financial contentment can feel out of reach.

When it comes to pensions, the challenge is that retirement saving offers no immediate reward. Spending today feels more real than saving for a future that feels far away.

Money status

For people with a money status script, financial success becomes closely tied to self-worth. Money becomes a way of measuring achievement, progress or social standing.

The challenge for pension saving is that it's largely invisible. No one sees the extra pension contributions you made this month. There's no letter of ‘congratulations’ when you do the right thing.

If success means being seen to succeed, pension contributions can feel hollow.

Money vigilance

Money vigilance is often seen as the most financially healthy script. People with this mindset save regularly, avoid debt and think carefully about the future. Research in the Journal of Financial Therapy found a positive link between money vigilance and pension saving.

But even helpful habits have a trickier side.

When caution tips into anxiety, some people become so worried about making the wrong decision that they struggle to make any decision at all. Others save diligently but never feel confident they've done enough. They might stick to regular contributions and see their pension grow, but the sense of financial security never quite arrives.

How you can start shifting your script

The first step is noticing your script. You can’t challenge a belief you haven’t yet named.

1. Find out where you stand

A helpful starting point is a short online quiz developed by Klontz and his colleagues that can help you identify your money script. It takes around five minutes.

It won't tell you everything, but it can surface beliefs you didn't realise you were carryin

2. Try writing it down

When a money situation triggers a strong reaction, write down:

what happened;
what emotion came up; and
what you felt the urge to do next.

Over time, you'll start to see patterns. That awareness alone can create a pause between the trigger and the response.

3. Talk to someone

If your money script is rooted in financial hardship or long-held shame, speaking to a professional could help.

Financial therapy is a growing field that helps people understand and change their relationship with money. You can find therapists who specialise in money issues through the BACP therapist directory.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is another option. When a money-related thought arises, you write it down, examine the evidence for it, and test a more balanced alternative. This can help you challenge a belief rather than accepting it as true.

For free support, the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute is a good place to start.

4. Slow down the reaction

Mindfulness is the practice of noticing what you’re thinking or feeling in the moment, without immediately acting on it.

In practice, that looks different depending on your script. If you tend to avoid money matters, notice the urge to close the browser tab before checking your pension - then stay for one more minute. If you struggle with impulsive spending, notice the pull of a purchase before you click.

It's not about eliminating the feeling. It's about creating a small gap between the feeling and the response.

The bottom line

We often think better pension habits start with spreadsheets and financial plans. But sometimes, they start somewhere else entirely.

The way you think about money today may have roots you don't even remember. But understanding them can make habits that once seemed stuck a lot easier to shift.

Recognising those scripts could be one of the most valuable financial decisions you make.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Bonus episode: How does market volatility shape your pension pot?

In this bonus episode, Philippa Lamb and Maike Currie cut through the noise on market volatility, bull and bear markets, and why staying invested is almost always the smartest move for your pension pot.

The following is a transcript of a bonus podcast episode of The Pension Confident Podcast. Listen to the episode or scroll on to read the conversation.

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Takeaways from this episode

Bull markets last longer than bear markets - historically a rising ‘bull’ market produces bigger gains and outlasts the ‘bear’ market downturn that precedes them.
Keeping contributions going during a downturn can work in your favour - if you buy shares at a lower price, when the market eventually recovers, those holdings might be worth more than what you paid.
Tax relief acts as a built-in buffer - a basic rate taxpayer putting in £100 receives £25 in government tax relief, cushioning the initial contribution from the impact of a market fall.

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PHILIPPA: Welcome back. Today’s bonus episode is all about something that often makes headlines - market volatility. Whether it’s tariffs, geopolitical tensions, or yet another twist in the Westminster news cycle, the markets have had a turbulent time recently. And if you’ve noticed your pension balance moving up and down, you’re not alone. So, what’s actually going on, and what does it all mean?

We’re going to look at what you need to know. Whatever stage you’re at, we’re going to talk about why the plan you’re in matters, and perhaps most importantly, explain why you shouldn't rush to action. I’m Philippa Lamb, and if you haven’t subscribed to the podcast yet, you can click that subscribe button before we start. Now, here to help me make sense of market volatility is Maike Currie. She’s PensionBee’s VP Personal Finance. Welcome back.

MAIKE: Thanks for having me. Great to be here.

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What’s market volatility?

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PHILIPPA: Now, look, before we get into volatility, when people talk about the markets, what exactly are the markets?

MAIKE: Well, the easiest way to think of the stock market is a place where you can buy or sell slices of companies. So, think of it a bit as a farmer’s market, but instead of buying [a] fruit or vegetable, you’re buying a small portion of a business.

PHILIPPA: OK, so what’s market volatility?

MAIKE: So, the key thing to think about is the prices of these company slices that you’re buying can go up rapidly if a lot of people want to buy a share. Or also fall rapidly, if a lot of people are rushing for the door. So, volatility really is that rapid movement in share prices, and it can be caused by a number of things. It can be caused by geopolitical events, it can be caused by uncertainty. The key thing really is that market volatility is part and parcel of investing.

PHILIPPA: It can happen really quickly, can’t it?

MAIKE: It can happen really quickly, but as quickly it can dissipate. So, the key thing isn’t to panic and to know that markets never move in a straight line. They go up and down.

PHILIPPA: Yeah, and we hear these terms ‘bull market’, ‘bear market’.

MAIKE: What exactly do they mean? Well, I’m no David Attenborough, but they really replicate the movement made by these animals. So, a bull kind of thrusts up with its horns, and that represents a rising stock market.

PHILIPPA: OK.

MAIKE: And a bear would typically swipe or claw down, so a bear market would represent a falling market. So really, a bull market is when markets are rising over a bear market is usually when the market falls, and the definition of a bear market is if the market has fallen more than 20%.

PHILIPPA: OK, and these are a normal part of the cycle, it’s worth saying.

MAIKE: Absolutely. The key thing we always say, and the key thing that investors need to remember, is that markets go up and down over time. But really, if we look at the difference between a bull market and a bear market, bull markets - so when the market is rising like the bull’s horns - they tend to last much longer than a bear market, which typically lasts around 10 months. And I guess the key thing to remember is that bull markets typically tend to last longer than the bear markets or the losses that go before them.

PHILIPPA: So, they produce bigger gains generally.

MAIKE: Generally. There’s no hard and fast rule, and as we always say, past performance is no indication of future performance. But there’s enough research out there that shows over the long term, stock markets tend to outperform more.

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How far can a pension balance fall?

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PHILIPPA: OK, but obviously from an investor point of view, you know, if you see your pension balance falling, it’s concerning. Worst case, what would it actually take for it to get to zero?

MAIKE: Well, it’s important to put this in context because for your pension to go down to zero, every single holding, every company share that your pension is invested in, will need to fall to zero. Now, that has never happened, even in the dark days of the Great Depression, even during World War II, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. We [have] never seen that. Yes, markets fell quite drastically and quite rapidly, but they did recover over time and in fact recouped all the losses and ended up higher than where they started.

PHILIPPA: I’m thinking that for listeners who are earlier in their careers, this might all feel a bit alarming because, you know, they’ve just started building up their pot, the pot’s probably quite small, suddenly they see it dropping in value.

MAIKE: It’s going to be concerning, but honestly, if you’re just starting on your pension journey, you’re in the best place possible because time is on your side. And as I always say, the most powerful force when investing, and when you’re putting money into a pension, isn’t how much you’re putting in necessarily, but time. When you start out, you’ve got time to ride out those ups and downs, those bear and bull markets, and over time the market will smooth out, and you’ll see your portfolio eventually recovering those losses.

PHILIPPA: Even though we always say “Past performance is no guarantee of future performance”, and that’s true, markets have historically always come back, haven’t they?

MAIKE: Absolutely. Markets have historically always come back. And if we look at history, a good example of this is the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is one of the oldest stock market indices out there. Now, between 1997 and 2021, that market rose 357%. What’s key to remember is that period included some of the most seismic market events we’ve seen, including COVID-19 pandemic, the global financial crisis, and others.

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The investor upside of a market downturn

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PHILIPPA: So, should those younger savers then maybe think about pausing contributions during a downturn?

MAIKE: Actually, keeping your contributions going is the best possible approach because you’re buying those shares at a lower cost, and when the market recovers in value, those shares you bought in the dip are actually worth more. So, you basically got a bargain on the sales rack.

PHILIPPA: OK, now I heard what you said about younger savers having longer for all this stuff to, you know, iron out over time. If you’re closer to retirement, volatility is going to be a bigger worry, isn’t it?

MAIKE: Absolutely, because when you’re closer to retirement, you’re getting closer to the point where you want to draw money from your pension pot. So, a massive market event which wipes out some of the value of that pot can be very concerning, and your biggest focus then isn’t so much on growth but on stability, preserving that pension value. So, what you can do is you can ride out the ups and downs. You can possibly look at taking less from your pension pot, giving it some time to recover.

PHILIPPA: So older savers might be, I think, perfectly understandably nervous. There’s going to be a temptation to take their money out, isn’t there?

MAIKE: There will definitely be a temptation, but the key thing to remember is when you do move money out of the market during a market fall, you’re essentially locking in losses.

PHILIPPA: Because you don’t have a chance to recover later?

MAIKE: Yeah, so when the market does recover, and sometimes it can do that relatively quickly, you’ve basically sold at the bottom of the market. And it’s really key to remember that the [Financial Conduct Authority] (FCA), the city watchdog or the regulator, actively encourages investors to stay patient and to remain invested during times of volatility. That really is, even though it does test the nerves, is the best possible approach when we see those massive moves in share prices.

PHILIPPA: So, thinking about those older savers again, should they at least think about pausing contributions?

MAIKE: The key thing I'd say that we really need to remember with a pension, and what makes a pension different from a [Stocks and Shares] ISA, is when you contribute money into a pension, you automatically get government tax relief. So, say I’m a basic rate taxpayer and I’m putting in £100, I get 20% tax relief. So, I’ve got £25 added to my pension. Now let’s say the market does fall dramatically. In fact, let’s say it falls as dramatically as it did during ‘Black Monday’ [crash of 1987], which was a massive crash which saw the Dow Jones fall by [around] 20%. Even if I saw that kind of once-in-a-lifetime fall, because of the tax relief, I’ll still have £100 in my pension. Now, if I had put that £100 into a [Stocks and Shares] ISA, I wouldn’t have received any money in the form of tax relief that would have cushioned me against any market fall. And I think a lot of savers underestimate the power of tax relief. It’s free money from the government. What’s not to like about that?

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How quickly can markets recover?

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PHILIPPA: Yeah, there’s a lot of ins and outs with pension contributions and tax relief, but we did do a bonus episode all about that back in May. So, if you listen to this and you’d like to know more about that, go back, have a listen to that one. Give us more recent examples, because we were talking about Black Monday, that was a long time ago. More recent examples of how quickly markets can recover.

MAIKE: So actually, if we go back in recent memory, there’s been quite a few dramatic market events. The first one I’ll refer to is back in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Dramatic time in markets. The S&P 500 fell 7% and everyone was really worried about what the future could hold. But less than a month later, the market had rebounded and actually ended up higher where it started.

PHILIPPA: And we had another one, didn’t we, with President Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs. 2025, that was last year.

MAIKE: Just remind us [of] what happened with that one. Well, very recently really, in recent memory as you say, April 2025, Trump’s Liberation Day, a big hoo-ha about tariffs. The market acted very dramatically. There was a 12% fall. In May, the market had recovered and in fact it was 3% higher than where it had been. So, as you can see from these examples, you can have quite dramatic falls in markets, but over time they do recover, sometimes quicker than we expect.

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Pension plans for different life stages

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PHILIPPA: What you can usefully do, it seems to me, is look at your plan, right? Because it’s not just about how you react during volatility. A lot does come down to the investment plan your money is in to start with, right? So how can you tell if you’re in the right plan for the stage you’re at and the state of the markets and everything you’d need to think about?

MAIKE: The key thing to say is different plans are built for different stages of your retirement journey. And as we spoke about, when you’re at the start in your early 20s and you’re saving into your pension, you’ve got more time to ride out market volatility. Whereas if you’re in your 50s and you’re getting closer to retirement age, it’s really about preserving capital and about stability. So, with PensionBee, we’ve got a number of plans that are suited to those different life stages. Our Global Leaders Plan is for anyone under the age of 50. It’s well diversified over the 1,000 biggest companies in the world. But then we also have a 4Plus Plan, which is for those over 50s, and that’s all about looking at volatility, managing volatility, and delivering a return around 4% plus the bank base rate. But very much managing volatility, which obviously is key if you’re in that age group.

PHILIPPA: As you say, obviously these plans are specifically aimed at people in certain stages and ages, but it’s up to them, right? I mean, it’s about their appetite for risk, so they can choose whichever they want.

MAIKE: That’s true. You don’t need to go into a specific plan just because you fall into that specific age group. The key thing is what’s your appetite for risk and when do you want to draw down your pension.

PHILIPPA: So, any sort of rule of thumb for which type of plan might suit which type of saver?

MAIKE: Well, as a PensionBee customer, I'd look at the full suite of PensionBee’s plans, and if you still have questions, you can always speak to a PensionBee 'BeeKeeper', which is a UK-based team. Or once again, if you need to, you can speak to a regulated [Independent] Financial Adviser.

PHILIPPA: Maike, thank you. Really helpful as always. A brilliant reminder that markets going up and down isn’t the story. Staying invested and staying in the right plan and staying calm, that’s the story.

If you’re enjoying the series, we’d love it if you’d let us know with a rating or a review. It really does help us reach more people who could benefit from these conversations. If you’ve missed an episode, don’t worry about it, you can catch up anytime on your favourite app, YouTube. If you’re a PensionBee customer, of course, you can listen in the PensionBee app too.

Here’s our usual final reminder: anything discussed on the podcast shouldn’t be regarded as financial advice or as legal advice, and when investing, your capital is at risk. Thanks for being with us, we’ll see you next time.

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Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

Your June 2026 market update: Keir Starmer resigns, big shifts in big tech, and key interest rate decisions

Find out what happened to markets in June, influenced by events including Prime Minister Keir Starmer's resignation announcement and a US big tech sell-off.

This is part of our monthly series. Catch up on last month’s summary here: Your May 2026 market update: stock markets reach new highs despite global uncertainty.

When we look back at June 2026, the first thing that’ll come to mind will probably be the sweltering heat dome that pushed UK temperatures to record highs for the month.

Of course, unlike much of British infrastructure, global markets don’t grind to a halt when the thermometer climbs above 30 degrees.

It’s been a busy month around the world. We’ve seen political change, seismic shifts in the tech market, and split decisions on interest rates that could be a sign of what’s to come this year.

Find out more in your June 2026 market update.

The headlines: Japan has its best quarter on record as the US lags behind

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stormed to an all-time high on 25 June. A rally in tech and Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure stocks drove growth.

That’s been helped by a weak Japanese yen. Exporters selling to the global market have received more for their dollars than they might have otherwise.

Plus, Prime ‌Minister Sanae Takaichi was re-elected in February on a pro-business mandate. Businesses have benefited from this commitment to back commerce and revive the economy.

Less can be said for the rest of Asia. By the close of the first half of the year, overseas investors had pulled $137.36 billion from shares in South Korea, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

In large part, that’s down to investors taking their returns from South Korea and Taiwan. Both countries have seen impressive growth this year thanks to big tech winners. That includes SK Hynix and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC).

The US was also not so fortunate. Although the S&P 500 recorded yet another record high at the start of the month, the index closed down from its strong opening.

That was in large part due to a tech sell-off and rotation - find out more below.

Elsewhere, performance in Europe was mixed. Inflation came in at 2.8%, down from 3.2% in May, which was welcome news. Like in Japan, European chipmakers crucial to the AI buildout, such as Siemens, rallied at the end of the month.

However, European carmakers - particularly in Germany - looked less healthy. Traditional choices in the auto sector have struggled to compete with the low prices of Chinese challenger brands.

That’s led giants such as Volkswagen to consider steps like shutting four German factories and making as many as 100,000 job cuts.

Closer to home, the UK injected a new dose of political uncertainty in June. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his intention to resign. Yet, markets barely reacted, with the FTSE 350 recording a positive month (more on this below).

Keir Starmer resigns, but markets stay calm

The big news in the UK this month was Keir Starmer’s announcement that he’ll resign as Prime Minister.

Starmer campaigned on a promise of stability, after a turbulent period that saw five government leaders in just 12 years.

Instead, his short tenure will see him memorialised as Labour’s shortest-serving Prime Minister.

Such uncertainty can panic investors and cause them to react, leading markets to dip.

But markets were noticeably calm after his resignation. After a brief fall in the value of the pound and a rise in gilt yields (that’s the government’s borrowing costs), markets stabilised.

That was seemingly helped by newly-sworn in MP for Makerfield, Andy Burnham, confirming his intention to run for the job.

With former Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, backing Burnham, June finished with just one candidate vying for the top job. A leadership contest could spook investors and see markets wobble. But investors seemed calmed by Burnham throwing his hat into the ring alone.

Markets responded even more favourably after Burnham laid out his vision as Prime Minister at a speech in Manchester.

Borrowing costs fell and the pound rose as Burnham described his intentions to set up a “No. 10 North” and devolve power away from Westminster.

He also described a “laser-like focus on growth and regeneration”. That commitment could've contributed to the positive market reaction.

What remains to be seen is who the next Prime Minister will appoint as Chancellor, and what their fiscal policy will be.

US tech dominates headlines as investors pivot

As it has throughout 2026, the US tech sector dominated headlines in June. However, it was a slightly different landscape this month.

Firstly, Elon Musk’s space exploration, communications, and AI company, SpaceX, listed on the stock market.

This was initially a resounding success - at least for Musk. Investors’ appetite for SpaceX saw the company raise $75 billion and pushed shares to $161 when the market closed on the first day of trading. That made Musk the world’s first trillionaire.

However, less than two weeks after its IPO, SpaceX announced a $20 billion bond issuance. The company later increased that to $25 billion.

Bonds are debts that companies take on to fund projects. They then pay back the loans with interest.

It’s a seemingly odd choice for a company that just raised $75 billion to then take on another $25 billion in debt.

But it speaks to the huge cost of AI infrastructure and what it’s going to take for the business to become profitable.

That understandably spooked investors. SpaceX shares peaked at just over $200 on 16 June. But when markets closed on 30 June, they were just below $171 - higher than they initially floated for, but less than that peak.

SpaceX isn’t the only company to have taken on large amounts of debt like this last month, either. Nvidia raised $25 billion, while Alphabet - the parent company of Google - issued $31 billion.

Investors move away from the Magnificent Seven to chipmakers

Investors also started selling off the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ at the end of June. That’s the group of big tech companies comprised of:

Apple;
Amazon;
Alphabet;
Meta;
Microsoft;
Nvidia; and
Tesla.

The sell-off saw the companies’ combined value shrink by $2.3 trillion.

Concerns over the immense cost of the AI buildout no doubt played a part here.

Another aspect has been price rises. As chipmakers have been busy supplying AI data centres, there’s been a surge in demand for those components.

However, they’re also critical for hardware, such as in Apple and Microsoft products. This creates a supply issue, pushing up chip costs.

Both companies announced price rises off the back of this. Investors may be worried about what this might mean for sales and revenue.

While the dip has been bad news for these businesses, companies supporting AI infrastructure benefited.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index tracks a basket of chipmakers, like TSMC, Micron, and ASML. It’s often used as a proxy for how the sector’s performing.

Data shows that the index is up 6% this month. Across the year, it’s risen by 90%, versus a 3.4% decline across the Magnificent Seven.

Investors have been put off by the tech companies’ big AI outlays. Instead, it seems they’ve turned to the businesses that have profited from all that spending.

Some central banks raised interest rates as inflation concerns continue

As for financial policy, interest rates paint an interesting picture of what’s happening around the world.

Since the start of the war in Iran, rising oil prices had pushed inflation above expectations. As a result, rather than cutting rates as predicted at the start of the year, central banks have largely held interest rates so far in 2026.

That’s what we saw in the UK and US in June. Both the Bank of England (BoE) and the Federal Reserve (Fed) held rates.

Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of Japan (BOJ) both raised rates this month.

While these economies are all facing different pressures, the ECB and BOJ’s decisions may be the first of many rate rises this year.

Risk warning

As always with investments, your capital is at risk. Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest. This information should not be regarded as financial advice.

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