Monthly Archives: February 2016
Hughes v Royal London – a sorry state of affairs.
It’s not often that I read a legal judgement in full but that’s what I’ve just done, to understand how Ms Hughes has successfully won a cased which allows her to send her hard earned pension savings to a fund … Continue reading
Boris has spoken…
At around 4.45 on a windy Sunday afternoon, Boris shuffled onto a London pavement and delivered the news that he was supporting Brexit and joining Vote Leave. If you haven’t seen the clip (on the Sky news twitter … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Boris Johnson, Brexit, Cameron, EU, Osborne, Politics, Prime Minister
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The Oxleas pension scandal
The offer made by the Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust is a scandal. There is no other word for it. Staff are being misinformed about pensions and being offered “sexy-cash” to help Oxleas balance its books. Our nurses are worth more … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged auto enrolment, NHS, NHS Pension Scheme, nurses, Opt in, Opt-out, Oxleas, Paul Maloney, pension, Retirement, Royal London, Steve Webb, The Pensions Regulator
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Do they mean us? How others countries see UK pensions!
The late great Derek Jameson indulged us for a decade with facile but fascinating insights into how Johnny Foreigner viewed the Brits and ( when national self-esteem was low), we loved it! No matter how bad things were for us, … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged auto enrolment, compulsion, David Harris, DCIF, Derek Jameson, OECD, pensions
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5 reasons why pension tax-relief should go!
As a nation we cannot afford it (as part of a balanced welfare system) We are over-incentivising private pensions (compared with similar countries) Tax-relief is bloating the wealthy not helping the poor The influx of 11m+ new savers into AE (especially … Continue reading
“Sexy-Cash” is back – with tPR’s blessing?
Some years back, the then pensions minister Steve Webb waved a Boots’ pension offer in the faces of a bemused NAPF audience and berated “sexy-cash pension offers”. Boots were offering staff cash inducements to leave a pension scheme … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged auto enrolment, Cash, ETV, ft, inducement, josephine cumbo, pensions, Retirement, Sexy-cash
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L&G gets tough on #AE
L&G changes its AE distribution strategy Legal and General have consistently been an iconoclastic force in auto-enrolment; I would argue a “Force for Good”, not afraid to stick their necks out and take risk where others have waivered. Within the past … Continue reading
Getting to financial self-sufficiency
I’m fascinating by the different ways in which people learn things -especially by the way that the internet has made it possible for people to become expert in quite difficult things in a very short time. Of course there … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged educate, Empower, Engage, financial education, Financial literacy, first actuarial, literacy, self suffeciency
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Why we have no choice but to trust on tax
People argue that a taxation system that offers limited incentives upfront and relies on “jam tomorrow” is flawed. People won’t trust it But such a system is in place, it is labelled the Individual Savings Account (ISA) and people trust … Continue reading
Two positives from the January markets’ negatives – Guest blog from Ralph Frank
Many asset markets experienced losses over the course of January. However painful this start to 2016 might have been, it does potentially offer investors (at least) two positives. The first positive depends on whether the market falls reflect … Continue reading
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