Monthly Archives: August 2015
Why I want to be old – rich and pay no tax!
There’s a famous story, now fading from popular memory about Strand, a brand of cigarettes in the sixties. Strand came out with a strap-line “you’re never alone with a Strand” It killed the brand stone-dead. People associated smoking a Strand … Continue reading
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Tagged Bogoff, George Osborne, incentives, pensions, retirement income, Save, Saving, Spend, Tax, tax deductions, tax relief
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Come on Sage – you can and should do better!
Sage are a great British success story. Over the past 20 years they have become pre-eminent as a payroll software supplier and latterly a portal for a range of back-office business solutions. Www.pensionplaypen.com is itself a business customer, using SagePay … Continue reading
The FinTech boom ignites with the start-ups!
This chart says something pretty interesting. It tells us that London is the top place in Europe for Financial Technology, it tells us that in terms of performance and market reach, we’re doing great but that we lag in Funding … Continue reading
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Tagged advice, auto enrolment, Business, Business and Economy, David Cameron, DWP, Ease, Employment, Financial services, George Osborne, Government, ITM, Legal & General, NEST, pension playpen, Pension Regulator, pensions, pensionsync, People's Pension, Retirement, Ros Altmann, social media, Systemsync
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“My encounter with me” – David Butcher on his years living with ME.
Around 2000, I met David Butcher, who was then head of Invesco’s corporate pension division. Although we were competing with him, it was immediately clear that David was a good guy and that losing to him still meant the client … Continue reading
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Tagged David, David BUtcher, dc, digestive system, Invesco, ME, Optimum Health
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Why I think we’ll avoid a capacity crunch.
The predictions are dire – mass non-compliance – auto-enrolment brought into disrepute and pensions marched out of the last chance saloon and replaced by ISAs. It is as if some of my colleagues actually want this to happen- not that … Continue reading
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Tagged annuity, auto enrolment, Business, Defined benefit pension plan, Employment, FAMR, FCA, Lesley Titcombe, pensions, Ros Altmann, TPR
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Everything’s a prototype – nothing on the web will last.
The way people think about websites has changed so much over the past three years. This morning I read an article called “web design is dead” in which the author, Sergio Nouvel (@shesho) argues that internet innovation has shifted from … Continue reading
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Tagged API, app, application, Business, content, dc pensions, Linked in, mobiles, pension, Pension new, pension playpen, pensions, Retirement, social media, Society, twitter, watch, watches, web-design, WordPress
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“A question of trust”- accountants and auto-enrolment pensions.
I’m not going to quote Einstein’s definition of insanity as that would be madness. To understand how tactical short-cuts spiral into destruction look at what PPI has done to the share price of our high-street banks This blog is for accountants who … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, actuaries, Management, pension playpen, pensions
Tagged accountants, advice, auto enrolment, Brand, cattle, dc pensions, DWP, Employment, Financial Services Authority, pension playpen, Pension Regulator, pensions, practice, Practitioner, profession, regulators, Retirement, wokrplace pensions
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Are the goal posts about to be moved again? (guest blog by Ralph Frank)
This week has seen the announcement of another consultation, this time intofinancial advice. The terms of reference have been published at this stage, with the details of the consultation to follow in the Autumn. One of the stated … Continue reading
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Tagged auto enrolment, Business, dc pensions, DWP, Environment, FCA, Financial services, pension, Pension new, pension playpen, Ralph Frank, Retirement, The government, Treasury
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It’s grim down south – and not so bad up north! -say Now Pensions.
Grim up north, NOW pensions, pensions, auto-enrolment, adequacy,DWP, contribtutions, employers, employees Continue reading
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