Monthly Archives: October 2015
Pensioning high-earners;- the nightmare deepens
We’ve known about the problems for high earners losing their pension lifetime allowance protection for some time. They now have an exemption from auto-enrolment if their employer knows that enrolment would jeopardise their tax privileges in retirement. But now there’s … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged adjustment, annual allowance, code, HMRC, Lifetime allowance, Payroll, pensions, Tax
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IGCs – 6 months in – a worrying lack of diversity.
In April 2015, insurers offering personal pension contracts were required to set up Independent Governance Committees as a result of the findings of a study by the Office of Fair Trading that concluded Also in April 2015, the FCA issues a … Continue reading
What is the Sharpe Ratio of a buy-in?
An excellent – if very specialist, article! The author is Legal & General’s John Towney. You can read the original here A few years ago, I worked at a very special and unique place called Redington where I … Continue reading
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When is a fiduciary independent?
It’s a question asked by Karen Wake on twitter @JosephineCumbo @henryhtapper @DominicLindley @greggmcclymont So … what is "independent"? We might be chasing a tornado here — Karen Wake (@pensionmonkey) October 29, 2015 I’m not into chasing tornadoes so I’ll try … Continue reading
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about……Guest blog by Ralph Frank
The pensions freedoms announced in the 2014 Budget are claimed to have made defined contribution (“DC”) pensions more effective in helping people retire. This view is set out in the 2015 CBI/Mercer Pensions Survey, ‘A view from the top’. The … Continue reading
Posted in Payroll, pensions, Pensions Regulator
Tagged auto enrolment, Business, DWP, Employment, Financial services, pensions, Retirement, Workie, workplace pension
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The day the IGCs had their picnic
Apparently yesterday was the day the IGCs had their picnic or whatever they do when they congregate at some legal temple in the City. The IGC’s – let’s be reminded – were set up by Government to keep the insurers … Continue reading
Posted in governance, pension playpen, pensions, risk
Tagged Evershed, ft, governance, IGC, jo cumbo, OFT, pensions, Richard Butcher, Robust, Steve Webb, workplace Pensions
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One small step for payroll, one giant leap for auto-enrolment.
There have been two events over the past couple of weeks that I think we’ll look back to as tipping points in the auto-enrolment staging timeline. Till now, employers have had no choice but to send and collect data to … Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, Payroll, pension playpen, pensions
Tagged Legal and General, NEST, pensionsync, Sage
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Productivity measures financial education’s ROI
No matter how philanthropic we believe our business to be, no employer is going to sustain a financial education program indefinitely unless it is clear that it is reaping some return on its investment. There has been considerable research on … Continue reading
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Why shouldn’t pot follow member? Guest blog from Ralph Frank
The Government has recently announced that it has suspended plans to require that defined contribution pension pots of less than £10,000 automatically transfer when savers change jobs (and related pension arrangements). Although the legal compulsion for such transfers has been … Continue reading
Helping employers with pensions – you don’t have to be an IFA!
Since RDR in January 2013, the number of IFAs operating in Britain has more than halved from 50 to 24,000. The ban on commission or its sibling “consultancy charging” has made it all but impossible for IFAs to make money … Continue reading