Property a better investment than pensions says two-house bank chief with £84,000 retirement pay-off
Economist previously claimed he was not wealthy despite six-figure salary
A BANK of England chief was branded "irresponsible" after claiming property was a better bet for retirement than a pension.
Chief economist Andy Haldane boasted he owned two homes - one in plush Surrey and a holiday home on the Kent coast.
He is also in line for a bumper £84,000-a-year pension.
But when asked by The Sunday Times whether property of pensions were better for retirement planning, he chose property.
He said: "It ought to be pension but it's almost certainly property."
He continued: "As long as we continue not to build anything like as many houses in this country as we need to meet demand, we will see what we’ve had for the better part of a generation, which is house prices relentlessly heading north.”
He added: “I would quite like the day to come when that wasn’t the case but we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
The Bank of England economist was slammed for the unrealistic remarks.
Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said his comments were “divorced from reality” and it was “irresponsible” to suggest people should rely on property rather than pensions.
But the out of touch economist, who is on a six-figure salary, defended his comments, saying: "I must admit when I said that pensions were complicated, I hadn’t expected it to be a statement of great controversy.
“My experience since then has rather reinforced the impression that most other people find them complicated too.”
Haldane caused controversy in May when he admitted he couldn't make the "remotest sense of pensions".
He also claimed he was not wealthy despite being paid £182,088 a year.
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