Monthly Archives: March 2012
The cheque’s in the post
The Chancellor is due to receive a “windfall” of £25bn if plans for the Government to take over the Royal Mail pension fund go ahead. In a sleight of hand that would make David Blaine blush, this will enable the … Continue reading
Posted in pensions, Treasury
Tagged Cheque, David Blaine, Government, Insurance, Mail, pension, Pension fund, Royal Mail
6 Comments
Building an online community
The Kings Men I am sitting on a misty Cotswold hill in utter tranquility. Only the pad of the keys breaks the silence. The morning is still and there is a prospect of a beautiful day. I am alone. … Continue reading
Posted in cheltenham festival, customer service, Facebook, Henry Tapper blog, Horse racing, pension playpen, Pension Rocks III, pensions, social media, twitter
Tagged cheltenham festival, Chipping Norton, Little Rollright, Online community, Pension Play Pen, Piers Plowman, Rollright Stones, William Langland
2 Comments
Now for Cheltenham.
Cheltenham‘s the start of spring- not the place or the racecourse or the horses but the decamping to the Cotswolds for a week of full throttle fun. The house gets cleaned out as binoculars and trilbies are hunted down, the car is … Continue reading
Posted in cheltenham festival, Horse racing, pension playpen
Tagged Cheltenham, cotswolds, Cottage Rake, Dawn Run, Desert Orchid, Golden Miller, Kauto Star, Paul Nicholls
7 Comments
What have the Australians done for us – not much!
I’ve been asked to talk to some pension people later this month on Supertrusts and what we can learn from the Australian Superannuation System. I have attended a number of lectures on this subject over the past few years, mainly … Continue reading
The Happy Manifesto – from “Happy” Henry Stewart
The Happy Manifesto sets out a vision of happier workplaces. It is based on what organisations might look like if how they were organised and managed was decided by the people who are managed. What does this mean in practice? Here is a first … Continue reading
Posted in happiness
Tagged Google, Job description, linkedin, Management, Organization, Ricardo Semler, Semco, Telecommuting
1 Comment
Don’t kid people that pensions are easy
A well-respected (and very good) pension lawyer recently posted this question on a pensions website The news from the NAPF that one in three workers may opt out of pension saving despite being automatically enrolled is depressing reading for anyone. … Continue reading
Happy Henry
I am on my way to a meeting with Henry Stewart , fondly known as Happy Henry. Henry runs a company dedicated to making people’s working lives a little happier by getting people happy in the workplace. Mr Gradgrind eat … Continue reading
Posted in happiness
Tagged Anna, Anna Karenina, Coaching, Gradgrind, Leo Tolstoy, Levin, Levin New Zealand, Tolstoy
1 Comment
How to get the pension you’ve earned
In response to some earlier blogs, Alan Higham has made this comment on a Pension Play Pen discussion thread. Alan regularly features in my thinking as does Andy Young (of the “Young report” below). Both are actuaries who have translated … Continue reading
Who pays for a register of pensions?
I’ve been writing this week about the small pension policies that most of us have “lying around” in some drawer or other. Maybe they came from well intentioned pension savings plans that just couldn’t be kept up, maybe from company DC schemes that … Continue reading
Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, Management, Martin Lewis, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Retail Distribution Review, Retirement, social media, Treasury
Tagged Association of British Insurers, DC Comics, Government, Insurance, National Employment Savings Trust, pension, Scheme, Steve Webb
54 Comments
Bill Whitehead’s drawers
I wrote last week about why we need a national register of people’s pension pots (not a clearing house or a system of enforced transfers). Re-reading the post, I can see many people will be asking “what is the issue at … Continue reading