Monthly Archives: September 2015
Shouldn’t we be accountable for the decisions we take? -Guest blog from Ralph Frank
The concept of accountability, particularly when it comes to financial decisions and their consequences, seems to be becoming increasingly vague. There appears to be a trend towards decision-makers wanting a release from decisions they have voluntarily made. Why should this … Continue reading
NOW – that’s what I call a puzzler!
NOW Pension’s decision to charge new customers £40pm from October has not gone down well with supporting intermediaries. One grumpy accountant commented We have one client already signed up with Now and about to stage in two weeks. As I … Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, pensions
Tagged auto enrolment, Helen Dean, Legal and General, NEST, NOW Pension, NOW Pensions, People's Pension, Puzzler, Standard Life
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GenLife to Smart – a case study in prudent planning
Friendly Pensions and its successor GenLife have now become Smart Pension and the outlook for its 10,000 members has been substantially improved. While GenLife was not insolvent, it decided the best way to achieve its targets was to obtain scale … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Andrew Evans, auto enrolment, DWP, Employment, Financial services, Friendly Pensions, genlife, NEST, Nick Ayton, pension, Pension Regulator, pensions, Retirement, Smart Pensions
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Calling all accountants and payroll bureaux
QTAC, the Pension Regulator and Pension PlayPen have got together to provide payroll bureaux and accountants with responsibility for payroll with training on how to stage and manage auto-enrolment. They’re all over the country and will cover the key issues … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged advice, auto enrolment, Business, DWP, Employment, L&G, pension playpen, pensions, Qtac
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“There’s opportunity in complexity”
This, believe it or not, is the new strap-line for State Street Global Adviser’s push into the UK DC market with their target dated funds which are – it seems – reassuringly complex. To boot There are two ways of … Continue reading
I wouldn’t put up with it!
If someone told me they were taking 1% of your wages and investing it for you If someone told me that in two years they would be increasing this to 5% If they told me that I wouldn’t be seeing that money … Continue reading
Making the most of the £20bn small employers spend on DB – Guest blog from Hilary Salt
A simple shift in communications could ensure the £20bn employers spend on DB each year isn’t wasted Over the last decade we’ve seen the long march of defined benefit (DB) pension schemes from the sunny beaches of open schemes run by … Continue reading
Posted in pensions, Pensions Regulator
Tagged Actuarial science, Actuary, advice, £20bn, Business, corporate governance, corporate risk, de-risking, defined benefit, DWP, Employment, Financial services, first actuarial, Government, member benefits, members, National Employment Savings Trust, pension, pension playpen, pensions, small schemes
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Why we want PENSION AWARENESS every day!
It’s been a week of contrasts for me On Wednesday I spent time in the splendour of Mayfair’s Claridge’s Hotel learning how Legal and General were designing products to help people in retirement. On Thursday I was in the Kingsley … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Edinburgh, Legal and General, London, Pension Awareness Day, Pension Bus, Pension Geeks, pension playpen, Westfield
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Five things I’d change to help employers with Auto-Enrolment
I spent yesterday with 62 employers , 1 of whom had staged auto-enrolment (a small employer in the June 2015 trial). As I listened to questions and talked with my friend at the Regulator who was co-speaker, I tried to … Continue reading