Category Archives: Treasury

Why we should be proud to invest our savings in real assets!

  My blog yesterday on USS attracted a lot of attention on social media and some interesting comment. This from Ros Altmann – a blog in its own right; Excellent piece Henry. There is insufficient differentiation in this DB debate … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, infrastucture, investment, pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The value to me of “set and hold”!

  The FT is masterful with understatement. A 2% charge can take quite a chunk out of the overall portfolio return If your predicted investment return is (say) inflation +3%, having to earn 2% to pay your investment manager, custodian … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions, pot, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

CETVs; the flight from quality

Both the Times and the Financial Times report today on the anticipated voluntary withdrawals from Britain’s DB pensions through cash equivalent transfer values (CETVs). The FT, relying on Mercer as a source, estimate the withdrawals to be as much as … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Help to save accounts”- crumbs for the poor.

  The Government is planning (according to the BBC) to spend £70m of tax-payers money incentivising those who are not in work (but trying to get a job) to build up an emergency kitty. These savings will be held in “help … Continue reading

Posted in pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Running Pension Policy – Snapchat Style!

There are leaks and there are leaks, but this feels like the Treasury pulling the plug out with the bath full and ready! Take a look at the timeline of the Times’ story (12.01am); this is no idle tittle-tattle from the … Continue reading

Posted in Pension Freedoms, pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Auto-enrolment limits – what the DWP aren’t saying!

The DWP’s paper on the Earnings Trigger and Qualifying Earnings Bands(QEB) for auto-enrolment next year is very well written and gives an insight into just how much thought is going into managing the conflicting needs of employers, workers, administrators and…HMRC. … Continue reading

Posted in accountants, auto-enrolment, Payroll, pension playpen, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Treasury, welfare, Workie | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The tricky job of enrolling the self-employed into pensions

The estimate from the Citizen’s Advice Bureau that some 460,000 extra workers are currently missing out on auto-enrolment because employers deem them independently self-employed seems reasonable. When employers conduct a workforce assessment, they generally do so with a cut of … Continue reading

Posted in advice gap, auto-enrolment, Henry Tapper blog, Politics, Treasury, welfare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The transfer mess gets worse…

It’s been some weeks since I wrote about transfers. To recap, I have been predicting a seizure in the transfer market , resulting from high demand, low-advisory capacity and pipes blocked with regulatory effluent. So it doesn’t come as a … Continue reading

Posted in Treasury, trustee | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

So what’s the point of the DC trustee?

  It’s the first rule of trusteeship- if you can’t measure it – don’t trust it. It’s the right of anyone who has their own pension pot to know how much they are paying for the management of their money. … Continue reading

Posted in dc pensions, pensions, Treasury, workplace pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sing if you’re “GLAD” to be grey!

If you’re old enough to recognise the reference to Tom Robinson’s 1977 gay anthem then you’re grey, bald or using restorer! Here’s Tom singing about queer bashing on “So it Goes” , complete with Japanese sub-titles (that’s the wonder of … Continue reading

Posted in accountants, advice gap, Guidance, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Treasury | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment