Government-backed pension provider NEST is trialling emotive messages to nudge self-employed people to start saving for their retirement.

The messages aim to persuade the self-employed to sign up for pensions through payment or accountancy platforms or trade and industry bodies.

Four messages are being tested to encourage savings behaviour, including ‘could you save £2.50 a day?' which focuses on daily contributions over monthly.

‘Flexible pension options for the self-employed' attempts to emphasise they can pay what they can, when they can.

Loss-avoidance messages such as ‘a tax-free way to save for retirement' and ‘don't miss out on pension returns' are the other messages being trialled.

NEST polled 2,000 self-employed people, finding 24% currently save into a pension - and 74% recognise the importance of doing so.

It also found self-employed people look at pension saving in a different way to employees, who have the option of being auto-enrolled into workplace pensions.

More than three quarters (76%) had some form of savings or investment, and 68% are using these to save for the long-term.

The report said:

"This points to a conceptual difference in the way self-employed people regard pensions and retirement compared to employed people.

"They tend to save for the long-term rather than a specific age or period of life, and use a wide range of savings vehicles including savings accounts, Isas and property, as well as pensions".

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