ABSTRACT
This book began by presenting evidence of the sustained growth in mass participation and financial services since 1950 and sought to identify the very large constituency in the current population likely to be capable of benefiting from savings and investment products: the white collar classes and the more affluent of the manual workers. It then went on to identify some of the major difficulties that these citizens now face: job insecurity and regular changes in employment, divorce, and the compromising of the security of home ownership in the housing slump of the early 1990s. This account argues for a need by this majority of the adult population for sound accessible savings and investment products, but also a considerable need for caution as to what commitments are made, with the fixed rate long term commitments characteristic of the industry’s products much less suitable today.
