A fintech entrepreneur and a group of pals have produced a music video called ’50 Ways to Lose Your Pensions’ to warn about pensions scams.

The video uses the famous Paul Simon song ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover’ with amended lyrics to warn of the dangers of pension fraud.

Due to Coronavirus restrictions the video was recorded remotely by MoneyAlive entrepreneur Ian Beestin and his friends who together form the amateur pop band called Goose McCoy.

You can view the video here ’50 Ways to Lose Your Pension’

Mr Beestin, also the drummer in the band, said he and the group created the video to help get the message across to pension savers in a fun way about the growing risk of pension scams.

He said: “I am deeply frustrated by the ongoing harm to large numbers of people who have had their trust and hard earned income in retirement robbed from them by utter scumbags. I think we should use every option we have to try and stop people being pension scam victims and music is a powerful and memorable way to get the message over.”

He has been involved in a number of industry pension scam initiatives including The Pension Scams Industry Group (PSIG) and is now part of the Secretariat to the All Party Pensions Group on Pension Scams. His firm Money Alive has also submitted a response to the Work & Pensions Committee on pensions legislation and he recently met with the chair of the Work and Pensions Committee Stephen Timms MP to discuss ways of reducing people's vulnerability.

He said the idea for the video came during his daily walk when he was listening to Paul Simon’s hit track ’50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.’

He said: “I was listening to Paul Simon listing the various ways to dump someone and was thinking about my writing earlier and the words just came into my head. When I got back I typed them up and arranged a call with my band mates.”

Mr Beestin is co-founder of MoneyAlive, a financial video education and engagement service for advisers and their clients, who believes in the power of video to get important messages across. 

The video has already had over 9,000 views.

The band includes: Paul Heery (CEO of the White Hills Park Multi-Academy Trust) on vocals, Mark Walker (recently retired IT Architect) on bass, Steve Benford (Dunford Professor of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham) on guitar and Ian Beestin on drums.

The band has been playing together for 30 years and prior to the lockdown played regular gigs including the annual Beeston Oxjam Festival which has raised over £130,000 for charity since 2010.