A greater degree of care goes into everything we put our name on to.

As we ride the wave of life – progressing through school and university, starting work, building careers, purchasing a home and growing a family, we invest time, money and care. Why? Because it’s ours.

So, this clearly brings me to the question of why do we not apply this same principle to our pension savings? This, Pensions Age readers, is my main gripe.

A mere two years ago, a brief time in comparison to some of the industry’s esteemed veterans, I joined the world of pensions. Like many of my peers not in the industry I naively assumed a healthy majority of my retirement income would be covered by the state and my minimum workplace pension contributions. Oh how wrong I was!

Now, with a more well-rounded understanding and respect for the industry, I stress the need for greater education and ownership over pensions.

Savers need to be more informed and take an interest in their pensions, just like they would with other things that belong to them. But to do this, there must be a shift in how we regard our retirement s avings.Trust in the industry desperately needs to be regained. While the majority of schemes, trustees, administrators and other parties work in the best interests of members, the average saver is more likely to be aware of the negatives.

Over the years, masses of people have felt let down by the industry as some battle to regain their rightful benefits that have been reduced due to changes in the state pension (see the Waspi campaign) and changes to the guaranteed minimum pension policy, tax overpayments and a lack of transparency overall. More recently, pensions have been painted in a negative light by high-profile cases, such as that of the British Steel Pension Scheme or the collapse of BHS, whereby members had little to no control over their accrued benefits.

It is the duty of employers, schemes and trustees to spread the positive message of pensions and to encourage members to invest the same care into this area of their savings. As gold plated, final salary pensions become rarer, I commend the government’s roll-out of its auto-enrolment policy and truly believe that it has begun to make a difference. More people are slowly becoming engaged earlier, but the momentum must not be lost.

Recently, ShareAction noted that pension schemes can better connect with members by communicating the wider, non-financial impact of their pension. This is something I wholeheartedly stand by. As more investment managers shift their focus towards environmentally sustainable investment portfolios, members could take a greater interest if they have more of an idea and connection with what their money is going towards.

People are much more likely to become more engaged if they are made aware of what their funds are invested in and if they are informed of their ability to actively decide where and what their capital is supporting.

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