Monthly Archives: November 2016
“Brexit penalties” and the price of freedom.
What kind of a club charges you £59bn to leave it? If the EU was a pension plan, we’d be screaming about exit penalties. But I suspect we are talking up the cost to highlight the brilliant negotiating tactics of … Continue reading
#AMNTConf2016 vAAMConf – substance and swank!
Yesterday, I flitted between Aberdeen’s swanky conference at the Bankers Hall in the City and the less swanky Association of Member Nominated Trustee’s conference at Holborn. Aberdeen’s afforded me plenty of insights and I’m grateful for the magnificent show they put … Continue reading
Where does all our money go?
Two of the big three revenue sources are income tax and national insurance, they’re the ones who hurt the well off. The third biggie -VAT is the one that hurts the poorest. Poor people pay VAT at the same rate as … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Autumn Statement, Business, George Osborne, National Insurance, Philip Hammond, Tax, Universal Credit
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Activism over activity – we want effective asset management.
Reading the FCA’s Asset Management Market Study, you’d be tempted to give up on active asset management (to be frank you might to give up on investment funds altogether). Daniel Godfrey has a piece in the FT claiming that the … Continue reading
Posted in IGC, investment, pensions
Tagged Aberdeen, dc, ESG, HSBC, LGIM, Terry Smith, trustees, Warren Buffet, Woodford
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We’ve gotta horse!
The Pension PlayPen is putting together a band of brothers/sisters to buy one and a half legs of a young German racehorse. The horse is called Moonlight Camp which should satisfy on a number of diversity grounds. But … Continue reading
Posted in Horse racing, pension playpen
Tagged Ascot, France, Gold Cup, Horse, national hunt, pension playpen, pensions
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Why there is no “opt-out” for the self-employed.
I get annoyed when I hear pension experts opine on including the self-employed in auto-enrolment (1). I don’t see much self-employment on their CVs, I certainly don’t see many of them being self-employed out of necessity. But most of … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, advice gap, auto-enrolment, dc pensions, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Politics
Tagged auto enrolment, DWP, HMRC, Payroll, pensions, PSDs, self-employed, workplace Pensions
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Strong on “money”- weak on “value”; the FCA and asset management.
if we believe that asset managers can materially improve the markets whose assets they manage, we need to understand how. Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Asset management, Asset Manager, FCA, internet, Money, value, Value for Money
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A triumph for “transparency” – the FCA’s Market Study
“Where costs are less transparent, we have identified some specific examples where firms place less emphasis on controlling them” FCA Asset management Market Study 7.54 (p135) Yesterday I wrote about the savage treatment meeted out to Investment Consultants in the … Continue reading
“Blindsided!”-investment consultants caught by FCA’s rabbit punch
Nobody saw it coming. I went to a conference of investment consultants earlier in the month, the FCA’s Market Review was not on the agenda of any of the day’s sessions. But the FCA’s proposal to make a MARKET INVESTIGATION REFERENCE … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged 2017, Actuary, Aon, defined benefit, FCA, first actuarial, Hymans Robertson, IGC, Innovation, LCP, Market Review, Mercer, pension, Technology, TPR, WTW
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A reconciliation of views; Con Keating’s last word?
The five earlier articles in this series have introduced new methods for the objective and accurate evaluation of defined benefit pensions and their costs. They have shown that existing accounting and actuarial methods produce highly significant differences from these … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
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