On the eve of the Budget a leading pensions expert has urged politicians to abandon their short term pension policy fixes.
Mike Morrison, head of platform marketing at AJ Bell, has called upon politicians to create a long term strategy for pensions to reflect its true importance ahead of Wednesday's announcement by Chancellor George Osborne.
Writing for Financial Planner Online's sister website Sipps Professional, Mr Morrison said recent stories about possible Government policies to come in after the next election suggested "reliance on pension money for a short-term fix" and this annoyed him.
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With this week's Budget potentially going to be the last one this Parliament, with the 2015 General Election on the horizon, he said: "With the election looming next year, lots of think tanks and other organisations are airing their views on future pension policy.
"In my view, pensions and saving for retirement are massive problems facing not just the UK, but many countries in the world.
"Pensions are important and deserve a proper long-term coherent policy, rather than becoming just a short-term fix for policy issues. Pensions are also the easy touch, the low-hanging fruit that is easy to tax – should we really be dealing with it in this way?
"Pensions need a policy to reflect their importance. This needs to be a long-term view, looking at future generations and demographics – not just a short-term tax grab to meet a short-term manifesto promise."
Read his full article here.