Monthly Archives: January 2015

Meaningless choice

Posted in pensions | 1 Comment

Is Pension Wise doomed from the start?

This question was posed on the Pension Play Pen Linked in Group by Jonathan Lawlor, a distinguished actuary and someone who thinks about these matters with an independent mind. He had been reading a new paper by Debora Price “Financing … Continue reading

Posted in pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Why advisers aren’t getting paid for auto-enrolment

    Amidst the back slapping as we pass 5m auto-enrolled into workplace pensions you hear little rejoicing from financial advisers. The majority we speak to are avoiding auto-enrolment for one reason- they can’t get paid for what they do. … Continue reading

Posted in accountants, advice gap, auto-enrolment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Who is going to support auto-enrolment now?

So far 43,000 firms have staged auto-enrolment, in 2015 45,000 employers will stage and in January 2016 alone over 100,000 firms will stage. Whereas most employers who have staged so far will have had workplace pensions and advisers, the 1.25m … Continue reading

Posted in accountants, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Meaninglessly big data.

I don’t like this infographic, it just appeared on my twitter feed to attract me to an article that would lead me to the conclusion that I was helpless and needed the assistance of some organisation to create me a … Continue reading

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De-risking strategy found in pocket of comatose trustee

  The Pension Plowman rifling through the pockets of a trustee lying in the gutter following an all night pension celebration , has found too documents, the first a copy of Corporate Adviser the full text of which can be … Continue reading

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Protecting against losses is not the same as generating a profit – guest blog from Ralph Frank

  The Swiss National Bank’s (“SNB’s”) decision to abandon the currency ceiling of the Franc relative to the Euro has drawn attention to risk management and hedging. The losers from the SNB’s actions, including retail leveraged trading platforms, investment banks … Continue reading

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“Greeks bearing no gifts” -Eamonn O’Connor on the power of a “pair of two’s”.

My friend Eamonn O’Connor, who is busy setting up City Noble, had time to share this little nugget. Far too subtle for this blog and a pearl before the Plowman’s swine Eamonn! Plenty of posturing in Euroland at present:  the … Continue reading

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Is NEST best?

Back-slapping all round NEST launched its third Insight into the state of the UK auto-enrolment project yesterday. This was a land grab for AE glory. At the front of the pack was Joanne Segars whose NAPF hosted the event. Hopefully … Continue reading

Posted in NEST, pension playpen, pensions, twitter, workplace pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

What do I do with my defined benefit pension?

  Many people have defined benefit rights (commonly called “frozen pensions”). Some people continue to build up defined benefit pension rights, most are in Government backed schemes. A large number of people are enjoying pensions from theses defined benefit schemes. … Continue reading

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