Kevin who is now aged 32 was employed for 12 years by the Thirsty Water Company. He had worked his way up to a Project Manager from starting as a Call Centre Operator where he started after leaving school. The employer offered a defined benefit scheme of 1/60th where employee contributes 6% and employer contributes a further 6%. He joined the company pension scheme at the age of 25. Kevin has recently been made redundant from Thirsty Water Company - he was deeply upset. His salary at leaving was £28,000p.a. and he received a lump sum payment of £12,000 for redundancy.
Following his redundancy Kevin found alternative employment with Best Phones as a Store Sales Person. He was not expecting to stay in this role long but took it as a stop gap until he found suitable employment - however 18 months down the line he is still with Best Phones as the current economic environment has made it difficult to find more appropriate employment.
Best Phones offered Kevin the opportunity to join their Group Money Purchase Pension Scheme which is administered by X Financial Services one of UKs leading Financial Services Organisations. Up until now Kevin had not joined the pension scheme as he was not intending to stay with this employment. However, he is now concerned that he has not made any contributions towards his retirement planning and the option of moving employers in the short term is looking grim.
Required: Evaluate Kevin's options making some recommendations regarding his retirement and investment planning, include the reasons for your recommendations.