Scottish Widows Workplace Savings Podcast

With over 30 million UK users and the meteoric rise of #FINTOK revolutionising the world of finance comms, it's time to go deep. I'm joined by James Bowyer of TikTok and Scott Stevenson of Scottish Widows' Brand team for a fascinating look behind the TikTok success story and look at the role it's already playing in UK pensions planning. We talk Dodgy Gardeners, what dog you need for retirement and 118 million pension searches in the last 12 months - and so much more!

Mithesh, Head of Investment Solutions at Scottish Widows, shares his fascinating journey from the world of investment start-ups to bringing his private markets expertise to Scottish Widows. He walks us through how Scottish Widows is reshaping its default fund to better reflect evolving customer behaviours and offers insights into the latest ventures into private market solutions, including the development of new LTAFs. Mithesh combines deep expertise with a clear, engaging communication style—making this a must-listen podcast.

The Scottish Widows' Retirement Report sent shockwaves through the media, with the startling revelation that 39%* of the UK population may fall short of a basic standard of living in retirement. In this episode, Pete Glancy – the report’s author and friend of the podcast – joins Robert Cochran for an exclusive deep dive beyond the headlines. Together, they unravel the complexities of this year’s report, explore the implications for future retirees, and share practical actions that can be taken to help secure a more comfortable retirement. All the time trying to outdo the AI version of the podcast. *2025 Scottish Widows' Retirement Report Read the full report here.  

Scottish Widows' Chief Investment Officer is shaking up the way hundreds of billions of pounds of assets are managed, focusing on customer behaviour and a goal to get the UK thinking more like a nation of investors, each with a stake in society. Kevin's path is nothing short of inspiring. From his beginnings as a math teacher to becoming a CIO, his story is filled with fascinating analogies and memorable anecdotes. He shares the four unique "super-powers" that excite him in his new role, making this episode a must-listen, at a time when Default Pension Funds across the board have never been more centre stage.

Join us as we explore the UK’s largest study of digital and financial lives. In this episode Robert Cochran is joined by special guests Jemma Waters, Head of Customer Inclusion for Lloyds Banking Group and sponsor of the report, alongside Lucinda Crowther from the Royal National Institute of Blind People, where we look at the report findings and support available for employers and individuals to help ensure digital inclusion for all. You can read more about the report here Consumer digital index | Lloyds Bank

Recorded in front of a live audience of Employers. Robert Cochran is joined by Pension Dashboard experts Chris Curry and Richard Smith. They have an interactive discussion about dashboards: where the programme is right now, what Richard learned on his European Dashboard trip and answering some great audience questions, including how vulnerable the pension dashboard is to scammers. To get ready for our podcast, make sure to check out Richard’s video. It's an excellent visual tool for understanding Pension Dashboards: Pensions Dashboards Explainer Nov 2024 on Vimeo.

Damian Stancombe, an award-winning pension personality and one of the most interesting characters in workplace savings, joins me for this fascinating podcast. It's a game of two halves. In the first half, he shares his unique views on the state of the UK Workplace Savings Market, drawing on more than 30 years of experience—some fabulous insight from inside the world of Employee Benefits and what makes a great partnership. In the second, Damian shares his very public journey into retirement. He set up a movement, 60 paydays to retirement, and is now living that early retirement. He's thoughtfully sharing his insight, concerns and lessons learned - worthwhile lessons for everyone in their Fifties!

Join us for a special International Women’s Day podcast hosted by Jill Henderson, Head of Workplace Strategic Relationships, Jackie Leiper, Managing Director at Scottish Widows, and her daughter Rebecca. In this insightful episode, we hear about their personal journey of closing the pension gap and explore the importance of meaningful financial planning conversations. Discover practical tips and inspiring stories on how women can take control of their financial futures. Whether you're just starting your financial journey or looking to enhance your planning strategies, this podcast offers valuable insights for everyone.

In this episode, we flip from the provider view to the Employer view. After nearly 40 years in the workplace pension market, the majority of which was spent working in-house to run pension schemes for some of the UK's biggest employers, my guest Paul Bird has lots of insight into delivering great pension benefits for employees. In this podcast, he shares his story—from closing DB schemes to helping colleagues retire early. Paul is proud to have walked the walk rather than just talked the talk and shares his story with us. It's different when you have to walk past colleagues every day for whom you are enacting pension scheme decisions—an extra impetus to get it right!

Yes, kicking off the 2025 series of the Scottish Widows Workplace Savings Podcast, Robert Cochran is joined by Scottish Widows CEO Chira Barua. They discuss Chira's first 18 months in role and his big plans for 2025 and beyond. The discussion includes - views on adequacy, digitising pensions, gamifying financial experience, Mansion House Reforms, Chira's love of the guitar and empowering individuals to take control of their own financial future.

In our final podcast of 2024, Robert Cochran, our Innovation and Engagement Specialist is joined by our very own Master Trust Lead, Sharon Bellingham. Sharon shares her invaluable experience and insights, on a journey that takes us from Mansion House and the Secondary Market, through to DE&I and what matters most to our members.

Over 60,000 employees have taken part in the Scottish Widows RetireWell Pension Education sessions this year with a big boost for Pay Your Pension Some Attention. In this episode, Robert Cochran is joined by Stuart Hopley to discuss exactly what pension scheme members are asking about their pensions, whilst delving into the success of the main Pension Attention campaign too.

The 2024 Women and Retirement report highlights the progress made over the past 20 years in narrowing the gender pension gap. This podcast reviews the key milestones reached in the past two decades, delves into this year's findings, and explores why further action is essential to fully close the gender pensions gap.

In this podcast, Robert is joined by two Scottish Widows colleagues, Rachel Proudfoot and Chris Smart, as they examine the world beyond workplace pensions.   In this episode, they discuss financial wellness, financial resilience, and some of the ways that young people, vulnerable customers, and policyholders alike can manage their finances.

In this special, Robert Cochran is joined by ‘Mr Pension Dashboard’ Richard Smith, who has travelled the length of Europe by train analysing all that European pension dashboards have to offer. For the younger perspective, he is also joined by 20-something Oliver Webster as they discuss what the latest announcements from the government mean for pension dashboards– and just how big a revolution for pension engagement the dashboards promise to be.

In this episode, Robert Cochran is joined by Graeme Bold who has led the Workplace Savings Business at Scottish Widows for 5 years and overseen a digital revolution at Scottish Widows - growing the business to over £100 Billion of assets - whilst delivering best in class digital tools for scheme members and employers. We discuss his 5 years at Scottish Widows, his hopes for the next 5 years, pension dashboard and of course his love for Pension Engagement Season - he even dons the t-shirt.

When you're the caretaker for £181 Bn of funds from 8.3 million insurance, pensions and investment customers, it’s both a massive responsibility and also an opportunity to make a difference. That's what we're discussing today with Eva Cairns, Head of Responsible Investment at Scottish Widows, and Adam Paterson, Investment Director. We’ll cover highlights from the 2023 Responsible Investment report, including our stewardship activities, investment strategies and the positive impact we’ve achieved. Really excellent insight - and I also learned about SDG's - and that children are learning this at school!   Full report link https://adviser.scottishwidows.co.uk/assets/literature/docs/61305.pdf

In this episode I'm joined by Pete Glancy to review the 20th Scottish Widows Retirement Report. We look back at 20 years of this landmark report - I spread a bit of pension love and happiness through some of the really good stories in the research - Pete brings us back down to earth explaining the plight of those struggling towards a tough retirement.  Full report here https://adviser.scottishwidows.co.uk/assets/literature/docs/retirement-report-2024.pdf

Can you gamify pensions? Of course you can! Just like learning, health, fitness and other areas of your life, gamification techniques are being applied to encourage better outcomes. In this fascinating podcast I'm joined by real experts designing gamification into the Scottish Widows Pension experience.

What can pensions learn from successful adoption of digital banking? For this episode, Robert Cochran is joined by our own Scottish Widows digital pension and banking guru Phil Allen and  a new to it all digital native Connor Strachan.  The discussion focuses on what pensions  can learn from the massive take up of digital banking, and what dashboards can learn from open banking.