At a relative’s birthday last weekend, we found ourselves chatting about how responsibilities and priorities shift as we get older.

This particular relative has just bought his first home, and, as the “serious one” in the family (and the one working in pensions), someone joked: “Careful what you say to Paige, or she’ll have you increasing your pension contributions next!”

Now, for those of us in pensions, that reaction isn’t surprising, but it stuck with me as I started to think about National Savings Week, taking place this week from 22 to 28 September 2025.

This annual campaign, led by the Building Societies Association, encourages people to rethink their financial habits and explore healthier ways to save.

This year’s theme, “Savings. They’re what you make of them,” feels particularly relevant as it’s a reminder that saving isn’t a one-size-fits-all exercise and is instead something that fits around our own lives and priorities.

The topic of this year’s campaign, coupled with my conversation with family, had me thinking about a session I attended last week at the Pensions Age Autumn Conference by Gallagher.

While sitting in this session at the conference, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. The speakers talked about modernising retirement and improving nudges around life events. And suddenly, the joke from my family conversation started to make more sense.

Think about it. When we hit major life milestones such as starting a new job, buying a house, getting married, welcoming children, receiving a pay rise, or even taking a career break, we naturally start to rethink money. We pay off debt, adjust spending, or increase savings. So why should pensions sit outside of that thinking?

Gallagher’s point took it further. They suggested that pension providers and employers could play a stronger role by making pensions guidance fit neatly around those milestones.

For example, someone coming back from parental leave could receive a clear, simple message: “While you were away, you missed X amount in contributions. Click here to top it up if you’d like”. That type of nudge doesn’t just raise awareness, it makes action feel manageable and relevant.

And this is where it all ties back to National Savings Week. While the campaign highlights the importance of saving and retirement planning, the reality is that financial decisions don’t fit neatly into a single week each year.

Milestones arise when life happens, and that’s exactly when pensions can either get forgotten or taken seriously.

Take my relative as an example. Buying his first house was a huge achievement, but it also came with new responsibilities: a mortgage and the reality of long-term financial planning.

That moment, much to everyone in the room's groans, created the perfect opportunity for a conversation about pensions, not in abstract terms, but in a way that connected directly to his changing priorities.

And that’s crucial as people rarely wake up one morning and think: “I’ll review my pension today”, instead, they think: “I’ve had a baby”, or “I’m moving jobs”, or “I’ve just hit a big birthday”. Those are the moments when pensions should be brought into the conversation naturally.

So maybe the way forward isn’t just about an annual awareness week. Instead, it’s about integrating pensions into everyday life events and making people aware that their retirement isn’t a future problem, but something they can shape milestone by milestone.

The joke at my relative’s birthday might have been light-hearted, but it captured the challenge perfectly: how do we bring pensions into conversations without overwhelming people?

Perhaps the answer lies in making pensions feel like less of a lecture and more of a natural extension of life’s big moments.

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