What's in a word?

How can you tell whether someone is vegan? (It’s the same as if they’re doing Dry January.)

Because they won’t stop telling you.

What if they changed the word to ‘healthy’? Would it be less irritating?

I only ask because apparently if you want people to eat less meat and more plant-based foods, don’t use the word ‘vegan’.

A study in the US has found that consumers (and especially meat eaters) are far more likely to eat vegan food if it’s labeled ‘healthy’ instead.

We really do have a thing about words don’t we?

And finance has a lot of vegan-style labels that also send people running for the hills.

Drawdown, derivatives, discretionary trust, and that’s just the Ds (and doesn’t include my all-time favourite, Bed and Isa).

But given the complexity of financial planning, it’s almost expected that there’s going to be some ugly terminology along the way.

The word pension needs to go in the bin though

This is the one that affects us all, but that has such off-putting connotations: little old ladies at the post office, old couples on yachts - just oldness everywhere. Complexity, bureaucracy, confusion. Anxiety and uncertainty. Scams, that dodgy Robert Maxwell guy. Yuck.

And yet over in the blue corner we have the FIRE movement (Financial Independence Retire Early). All those ruthlessly focused, spirited dudes in beanies yelping with delight because they have: financial freedom, independence, empowerment and control, lifestyle flexibility, strategic financial management, simplicity, direction, purpose.

All the things that a pension and retirement gives you too. But without the incontinence pad connotations.

So let’s reframe the concept of pensions and retirement by painting this picture of control, empowerment and liberation. Where to start? Why, with those labels of course: those little bits of copy that pack a big punch: taglines, headlines, notifications, calls to action etc.

Asking people if they’re ready to chat about their financial freedom instead of their retirement planning on your contact page might help to make pensions seem cool.