Monthly Archives: April 2012
All the Queen’s Men (overtime at Romney Weir)
What do you do when you come back from Church on a wet April Sunday morning? If you live opposite Romney Weir in Eton, you can enjoy watching eight engineers monitoring how the largest archmides screw in Europe is coping with the extra flows … Continue reading
Posted in Change, happiness, Henry Tapper blog
Tagged Archimedes Screw, Church, Council Tax, Engineer, Eton, Eton College, Queen, River Thames, Romney, Romney Lock, Wikipedia, Windsor
4 Comments
“Pensions that are no more”
Cardinal O’Brien Scotland‘s most senior Catholic, has been very specific in his comments on social inequality. Ostensibly they are aimed at David Cameron, but if the pensions industry think they are absolved, they should think again. (Cardinal O’Brien) said: “When I say poor, I don’t … Continue reading
Is optimism enough?
“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” Mr Micawber’s character was based on Dickens’ own father. Dickens must have loved his Dad. The Micawber … Continue reading
City v United ; 1968 revisited (Colin Freeman’s testimony )
Just like the Premiership it’s getting tight at the top. A few weeks ago we thought it was all over. But it’s not now. Which reminds me. Is it 1968 all over again? You may not remember, so I’ll give … Continue reading
Posted in football
Tagged Bill Foulkes, Bobby Charlton, David Sadler, Nou Camp, premier league, Sunderland, United, Victoria Ground
1 Comment
500,000 pensioners who will get no help from the Government.
If you have purchased an annuity in the past three years of are likely to purchase one in the next three years you will be buying into pension conversion rates artificially depressed by the Government‘s quantitive easing program and by insurance … Continue reading
Posted in Change, corporate governance, dc pensions, defined aspiration, NEST, Retirement, Treasury
Tagged CDC, Defined benefit pension plan, Government, Holland, Life annuity, Louis Theroux, pension, Steve Webb
6 Comments
The 500,000 retirees abandoned by the Government
If you have purchased an annuity in the past three years of are likely to purchase one in the next three years you will be buying into pension conversion rates artificially depressed by the Government‘s quantitive easing program and by insurance … Continue reading
Collective Defined Contribution Schemes – A Shameful Missed Opportunity
An article by Kevin Wesbroom. In December 2008 the Government published the response to its paper on risk sharing pension schemes. The opening sentence of the Executive Summary states “The Government is committed to encouraging good practice pension provision.” In December … Continue reading
Good boss / bad boss
1. Business is a playground, not a battlefield. Average bosses see business as a conflict between companies, departments and groups. They build huge armies of “troops” to order about, demonize competitors as “enemies,” and treat customers as “territory” to be … Continue reading
Posted in Management
Tagged boss, Business, Company, Control (management), Decision making, Employment, Human, Human Resources
3 Comments
The Spurious Certainty of Chicken Licken
There are two certainties – death and taxes; oh – add to that a pension in payment! Or so the officers of the DWP , the Government Actuary and the Pensions Regulator would have it. GAD tried to knock the idea … Continue reading
Posted in annuity, dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, Management, NEST, pension playpen, pensions, Retirement
Tagged Amsterdam, Dutch, DWP, Holland, Jersey, pension, Steve Webb, Terry le Sueur
125 Comments
How shares work (for us and our pensions)
Shares haven’t worked well for us over the past twelve years. World stock markets, especially the mature markets in Britain , Japan and the US, are worth less today than they were at the turn of the millenium. While some company’s shares … Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, Bankers, Change, corporate governance, customer service, dc pensions, defined aspiration, FSA, happiness, Henry Tapper blog, Retirement
Tagged Alastair Ross Goobey, Association of British Insurers, BlackRock, Investment management, National Association of Pension Funds, pension, Standard Life, Zurich
12 Comments