“Your pension needs to be ‘in your face’ regularly: 'Oh right, I keep forgetting but I need to look into that.”

An interview with Karin Berns. Karin works as Business Manager for the Head of ING Market Leaders (Benelux). In January this year, she was appointed board member of ING CDC Pensioenfonds, as a representative of the employer. Communications is one of her areas of focus as a board member, which makes sense given her background. Karin studied Marketing Management (Business Administration) and Media & Journalism at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

You’ve been a pension fund board member for half a year now. How do you like it so far?
It feels rewarding to also be able to put my energy into things that go beyond my usual work field. I get the opportunity to explore a new field and with that I can contribute to the welfare of others – that’s a nice combination.

What motivated you to become a board member?
At ING I was given the opportunity of doing challenging work in a board environment at a relatively young age. I learned a lot from that. I was looking for a way to use the knowledge I had acquired in a way that would also let me contribute to society, and I was soon convinced that a pension fund is very relevant to society.

“It’s always very important to put yourself in the shoes of the one you're communicating with, and especially as a pension fund board member you must always bear that in mind.”

How do you make pension communications easy to understand?
There's only a handful of pension experts in the Netherlands who understand what you’re talking about when you mention funding ratios, accrual cutbacks and actuarial interest rates. For all others, it makes less sense. To most people the Dutch word 'korting' means discount rather than cutback, so it sounds positive to them. However, when 'korting' applies to your pension, it is far from positive. It’s always very important to put yourself in the shoes of the one you're communicating with, and especially as a pension fund board member you must always bear that in mind.

Why is it so important for people to look into their pension?
Many participants of ING CDC Pensioenfonds are relatively young, which means they probably have quite a few years ahead of them before they retire. That provides opportunities! The sooner you look into your pension, explore the options and make choices, the larger the potential effect in the long run.

Are there any myths out there?
For decades, pension was a given for the Dutch, something that was taken care of on your behalf. If you worked all your life, there would ‘automatically’ be enough pension for you to top up your Dutch state pension (AOW) when you retired. Nowadays, we can no longer take that for granted. Of course, you build up a pension in ING’s pension plan every month – that indeed is an automatic process. But the risk that your pension benefits might be lower than what you hoped to receive in your old age, is your own risk. Just as only you can answer the question how much money you’ll need to live comfortably when you retire. And what that means for the choices you make today, like investing or saving your money, or spending less. The sooner you make these types of choices, the more impact they’ll normally have in the long run.

How can you entice people to look into their pension matters?
Our brain is programmed to be easily tempted into short-term thinking, while retirement requires the ultimate in long-term thinking. So we need to entice people to keep their focus on the long term as well.

Most people tend to see pension as ‘something for later in life’. So why look into it now? What do you prefer doing when you have an hour of spare time: pore over your pension or watch a show on Netflix? Netflix is probably a little better at seducing you than your pension fund is.

What's more, we have the ‘bad luck’ that while it is clear that the sooner you look into your pension the better, your pension doesn't have a real deadline. On 30 April, just before midnight, the website of the Dutch tax authorities is always overloaded because everyone needs to submit their tax return before 1 May and many people put this chore off until the final hours of 30 April. Nevertheless, they do submit their tax return, and in most cases before the 1 May deadline. Pension matters don't have such a deadline, so we need to create a sense of urgency in some other way.

Firstly, it's important that we make pension matters literally and figuratively easily accessible. One step further is that we ensure pension is regularly ‘in your face’, so people will think: “Oh right, I keep forgetting but I need to look into that.” So giving a little push, and at the same time offer tools that make it easier to get right to work with your pension.

Working at the bank, I learned how difficult it is to get people interested in their financial affairs. It turns out that the growing popularity of the mobile app for banking has contributed to financial awareness among clients. How? The app is very accessible – you always have your mobile phone with you anyway – and easy, because it gives you a complete view of your finances at a single glance. People check their finances a lot more than they used to, because of the app. If we translate that to the pension fund, being literally easily accessible means digital access. And being figuratively easily accessible means using understandable language.

Where do we find you in your spare time?
Preferably on the back of a horse – that gives the ultimate feeling of freedom. I’m currently looking for a new horse and looking forward to going on lovely outdoor rides. I also do my best to be the favourite aunt for my three nephews and two nieces, and I enjoy having dinners and drinks with friends. Then we catch up on our pension affairs and any other exciting topics.