Monthly Archives: February 2013
Honest! Open Government in operation!
The word “transparent” is a syllable too long to be “honest”. Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, brand, dc pensions, de-risking, ezra pound, NEST, Ricky Gervais, social media, TS Eliot
Tagged Aaron Swartz, Labour, O'Reilly Media, Open Government, pension, Ricky Gervais, Steve Webb, United States
5 Comments
Bill – get some DC resource into the Regulator now!
Bill, t tPR need a gong-worthy head of DC asap. Continue reading
The problem with actuaries
The closest most actuaries get to the beneficiaries of pensions is behind a one way mirror watching a focus group arranged by a marketing company. Continue reading
Better ways to diversify the default.
When people see the jigsaw being put together , we may even get better public confidence in workplace pension schemes – something devoutly to be hoped for! Continue reading
Accentuate the positive (Dr John)
Gather ’round me, everybody Gather ’round me while I’m preachin’ Feel a sermon comin’ on me The topic will be sin and that’s what I’m ag’in’ If you wanna hear my story The settle back and just sit tight While … Continue reading
Some of our insurers are missing
What have all these insurers got in common?
Answer, you can’t buy one of their personal pensions today.
Continue reading
Posted in Change, club pension, governance, pensions
Tagged Abbey Life, Friends Life, Insurance, Irish Life & Permanent, Lloyd, MetLife, Prudential, Standard Life
6 Comments
Time to look at VAT on pension costs
OK – not the most exciting topic but it’s an important one! I’ve seen no discussion about VAT on pension fees and that’s troubles me as we put together our strategy to sort out the pension challenge facing the 1.2m … Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, pensions
Tagged Employment, Insurance, National Employment Savings Trust, pension, Pound sterling, Tesco, Value-added tax, VAT
8 Comments
For an unexpected treat – turn left at Robert Mugabe
Sometimes you find something in the course of your working day that cheers you up. Yesterday around 5pm I was flagging, I had much still to do and I had been at it since the early hours. I suspect that … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Africa, Johannesburg, Namibia, Nando, pension, United States, Utah, Windhoek
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There’s a lot we can learn from town planning
Many towns around the western world started out as Roman garrisons. Primitive stockades gave way to fortified settlements which attracted local residents who set up communities outside the fort’s walls. In time, the communities became protected by the Romans and the distinctions … Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, pensions, town planning
Tagged China, Facebook, Gated community, Martin Lewis, Online Communities, Roman, Rome, twitter
2 Comments
Reading through the palm of my hand
To suppose that we will be purchasing financial services in 2014 as we did five years ago or even today could be a mistake. Walk down your high street and the only discretionary businesses are social clubs (coffes shops hairdressers and nail bars) – oh … Continue reading
Posted in brand, customer service, dc pensions, Management, pensions, Retirement
Tagged Business and Economy, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Mobile phone, Motorola, Nokia, Smartphone
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