Pension sales scandals are starting again

I am 66 soon and still working, but according to the banks and FK, their lobby group, the increase in the pension age from 63 to 65 years is so awful that people born in the 60’s and 70’s will need extra pensions. It is nonsense and this marketing should be stopped in its tracks. The pension products sold 20 and 30 years ago were full of risks and expensive for private individuals. The banks and pension companies are spreading false stories to entice young people to buy these same products again.

I know dozens of people who were sold high risk and expensive pension savings products. They lost large parts of their savings. The tax advantages were a fiction. The costs were not explained. Why were relatively low income workers and pensioners sold highly volatile Russian, Indian and IT funds by Nordea, OP banks and other slick salesmen, whose only motivation to sell were high commissions that financed their bonuses?

I recommend all private customers to record all sales meetings on their smart phones and never sign any documents without clearly written offers that set out the annual management costs, the costs of selling and risks of each fund. I can guarantee you that few of the bank salesmen will ever give you such a paper!

But the other biggest rip–off today is the high cost private pension companies running our employment pensions. Even the Swedish government is seeking to reduce the number of AP funds to achieve cost efficiency. Naturally EK, the trade unions, the banks and the pension funds deny these with one voice.

Don’t forget saving for your pension over 40 years is easy and cheap. Just buy a portfolio of shares directly or a low cost equity fund over time on a regular basis. It is not rocket science – even a banker can do that too!