3 myths causing employers to shelve pension settlement

In our conversations with employers, we find that they often continue to put off arranging retirement. It is understandable that arranging retirement may not be your first priority. As an entrepreneur, you already have enough on your mind. But what if we told you that it's much easier and more affordable than you think? In this blog, we discuss the 3 myths that cause employers to keep putting off retirement planning and show you how easy it is to get started with retirement.

Taking care of retirement? We do as...

Which of the following procrastination "excuses" look familiar to you? 

"Yes, we definitely want to arrange retirement once we have the next fundraising." 

"Our team is not yet big enough to take care of retirement."

"We are very busy right now because (...) when we are out of here we can think about retirement."

These are all very understandable and well-thought-out reasons for delaying retirement. Hence why we hear them so often. You're not the only one! It's just unfortunate that these reasons to defer are based on the myths expensive, complicated, and takes a lot of time. But the opposite is true. Taking care of retirement actually provides you with a high ROI: it takes little time and money for what you get in return, and you bind employees to the organization. Not unimportant as a start-up or scale-up. Pension is an important employment condition that helps you attract and retain talent. Moreover, you help your employees plan for their future.

Let's look at the myths surrounding retirement.

Myth 1: Retirement is complicated

Retirement in the collective consciousness is kind of like an iceberg in the water. You know it's there, because you see the tip, which is a representation of the concept of retirement. But you have no idea how it works, because sun' 80% of the iceberg is below the surface. So naturally you prefer to put off retirement planning until you finally land that one big client. Because finding out how big the iceberg is under the surface takes a lot of effort and is rather complicated. After all, you don't dive into the icy waters unprepared. But retirement is a lot less complicated than you think. It's just that pension funds have traditionally not been very transparent. And technical terms like funding level, available margin and pension pillars don't make things much clearer either (and our government website doesn't always help either). We want to change this at Vive, which is why we write blogs like this one about pension pillars.

Myth 2: Setting up pensions takes a lot of time

News about pensions, whether about negotiations (e.g., collective bargaining) or reaching an agreement, always have something in common: long lead times. 

Take the Pension Agreement. This was reached in June 2019 after unions, employers and the government had been negotiating for 10! years. Developing that agreement into the Future Pensions Act, took another 4 years. Not to mention rigging the pension itself. In addition, most traditional pension providers also take a really long time to set up pensions for your employees. Because this often involves drafting entire volumes of regulations and a legion of pension consultants. It is therefore logical that the myth that setting up pensions takes a lot of time has arisen. 

But, this doesn't have to be the case. With us, arranging retirement is not a lengthy, bureaucratic process. Within one business day, you can have a fully functioning retirement plan, without costing you precious time or energy. All you have to do is fill in a few details, sit down with us for a chat, and then we'll do the rest. You can learn more about this in our blog on onboarding at Vive.

Myth 3: Retirement is expensive

Okay, let's be honest, because you're not crazy! This myth is based on historical fact. Traditional retirement was and is expensive. Part of what makes it expensive are the pension brokers who profit from myths 1 and 2 (not to mention the red tape). But retirement really doesn't have to be expensive. For just a few euros a month, you can start a retirement plan. In addition, there are flexible options that allow you to scale up or down whenever you want. So you don't have to wait for the next big client or fundraising-you can start right away without putting a huge strain on your budget.

Too good to be true?

When employers hear from us that you can arrange retirement within a day for about $6 per employee per month they are initially surprised and amazed. "Wow, I seriously didn't know it was this easy," we are regularly told. But also, "This sounds too good to be true." This indicates how strongly myths are engrained in our collective consciousness. We simply do not believe that retirement can be easy, flexible, transparent and cheap. And yet it is. So you don't have to put it off until the next fundraiser or until you're in calmer waters. And even if your employees don't ask for it now, it's nice to have it in place so you can put it in your job postings. Besides, it will make your people really happy. So don't put off dealing with pensions any longer!