10 People who really should know better. One organisation that clearly does not.

There was a really interesting (?) NEST Pensions Release  on 10/11/12

new research by NEST shows that very few people think pensions are 'straightforward' (6 per cent), 'easy to understand' (4 per cent), 'simple' (3 per cent), 'interesting' (5 per cent) or 'engaging' (2 per cent).

Well, so are car maintenance manuals and Tax guides.  What to do...

Yes, publish a phrasebook

'The latest version of NEST’s phrasebook includes new jargon-busting terms we've tested with our likely members and their employers to help make pensions easier to understand.

Or what other people call a 'dictionary'.

Better yet take the old one and make it better.

Get some people to review it

Nick Timmins, Policy Commentator and Analyst, Financial Times: 'If you only read one book about pensions, read this!'

It cannot be said that any book on Pensions has reached the bestseller list, but they do generally tell you something about Pensions.

These people think that you can simplify a subject by providing a dictionary that re-states terms that refer to (sometimes) complex terminology that need extended explanation in their own right.

I would like to put this down as evidence of a particularly perverse collective sense of humour, but this subject is too important.

 

Having said that, this is the industry that had Pensions Simplification and ended up with a rulebook over 3 times as long.

If you want to make something more simple, the best method of doing this is to make it more simple.  Not use shorter words to describe it.