Case Studies

Artist and blogger Tina Mammoser talked to Pensions for Artists about her own long term financial options:

"At 37 I know pension planning is important and I should have started much earlier.

"I do have a tracker fund pension kept with and being managed by a previous employer but it's quite small, from 4 years of employment.

"My next step was to go to the Motley Fool, they have very good community forums, where I was given advice to check my status for the state pension based on my NI contributions so far. That was very good advice and in my case I'm on track for nearly the full state pension. That alleviated many of my worries; I'm a US national but UK resident and wasn't sure I'd worked here long enough for the NI contributions. I also read up about being about to contribute more NI contributions to top up if need be. (which I don't need to).

"Beyond that, I'm an artist living on a very low income. Even small monthly pension savings seemed impossible. I think many artists early and mid-career are probably in a similar situation, where any disposable income we might have is needed for tax or basic living costs so it's hard to know where to find options for saving very small amounts each month, even £10.

"I came to the conclusion that an ISA would be the best option for me at the moment since I can access the money in an emergency."

View Tina's Blog

View Tina's Website

Sarah is a Newcastle based artist in her early thirties, she graduated with a psychology degree but undertook a postgraduate course and has been focusing on art since.

Currently living on benefits Sarah is at a “crossroads” as she wants to be self sufficient and is looking for help and assistance in a number of key areas. The main focus for Sarah is to develop her ideas into a full-time career and taking the jump is difficult as there are limited funding opportunities available.

Pensions are not a priority for Sarah and she is unable to afford to save for a pension at the moment. The recent stories about pensions have also put her off; she feels that it would be “horrific” to lose all your savings. Sarah also mentioned that it would be good to have a scheme similar to the Credit Union, where it is not like a bank and where flexibility is available.

“Ideally would like to have the option to pay in an amount either weekly or monthly, some weeks and months could put in extra, others put nothing in.”

The recent government announcements on pensions have had little impact on Sarah, she realises that there are proposals to change the retirement age. But she did not see how the new proposals to automatically enrol employees onto a pension scheme would help the self employed, as they will most likely opt-out of the scheme.

In terms of accessing resources Sarah uses the Arts Council website and a-n magazine. She also uses the internet but is unsure of which resources she could trust especially in respect of pensions.

Michael is a visual artist based near Birmingham in his mid-forties. He recently moved into studio space which he shares with a number of artists.

Michael has had a pension for 12 years and saves £40 per month by direct debit. He bought the pension after seeking some advice on insurance and was at that time earning money on a regular basis. Since that time he has never spoken to and Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) nor has he looked at his annual statement. At the moment Michael feels that he could be spending his £40 elsewhere. He does not see himself retiring at 66 but says that unless his health deteriorates he will carry on working.

Michael also has a mortgage on his house which he bought some years ago and says that this is also an investment, however it is still “home”.

Michael sees many opportunities in artists being together in the same environment as they can share their problems and support each other; “Strength in numbers”. The greatest challenge that Michael is facing is the uncertainty and unpredictability of his work and is unsure of his income for the next 12 months.

Stephen is a furniture designer in his early forties based in North Shropshire. He joined Manchester Metropolitan University as a mature student and studied design and has been self employed for over 10 years. He has been successful in developing and commercial contracts alongside his creative ideas.

Stephen doesn’t have a pension and he cites a number of specific reasons for this:

• Firstly he says he is lazy and it is easier not to get one.
• Secondly he doesn’t think that far ahead and finally he says that his partner has a pension scheme and they are planning to move abroad and live on that when they retire.

When probed further about his financial planning Stephen said that he wouldn’t know where to start or what the jargon would mean.

Stephen is not alone, however as it has been shown that pension knowledge is very limited and the terms used can be difficult to comprehend.