Monthly Archives: January 2017
We do not need another consultation on costs and charges.
A report in Professional Pensions that we are to get yet another consultation on costs and charges fill me with gloom. As the report points out, we have two consultations on the subject – in progress. They follow an exhaustive call … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, actuaries, advice gap, auto-enrolment, pensions
Tagged charges, costs, FCA, hidden charges, pension, pensions, TPR, Transaction costs
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Is pressure building on financial services?
One test of populism will be the extent to which “populist” Governments take on the cost of saving and investing. We are used to “bank bashing”, they were the justifiable targets of public wrath for the savings and loans crisis, … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Asset management, charges, costs, Government, Taxation, Technology, the FCA, The Pensions Regulator, Transaction costs
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Seasonal workers have as much right to a workplace pension as any others!
I am surprised and disappointed in the National Farmers Union, lobbying to release farmers from paying auto-enrolment contributions to short-term “seasonal” workers. We are in danger of opening the flood gates here to every part of the gig economy that … Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, pensions
Tagged CBI, DWP, Farmers, Harrington, NFU, Payroll, workplace pension
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“Donald Trump… made me an alien”
On 1st January this year, Her Majesty The Queen made me a Knight of the Realm. On 27th January, President Donald Trump seems to have made me an alien. I am a British citizen who has lived in America for … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Farage, Human Rights, Mo Farah, Politics, Refugees, respect, Sport, Trump
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Morningstar questions how we’re choosing our workplace pensions
It has taken four years to hear an echo but finally it came and from an unexpected source. Sue Flood, speaking at a Morningstar breakfast seminar questioned the basis of decision making of employers choosing workplace pensions for their … Continue reading
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Should we invest, when we’re in debt?
There’s a very good BBC Martin Lewis Podcast on borrowing ; http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04qhdsg We’ve always thought as Lewis as anti-debt (an advocate of “debt-free” living). The Podcast gives as an example a man who has moved to the country with his … Continue reading
Posted in advice gap, pensions
Tagged covenant, covenant assessment, Goldman Sachs, Integrated risk management, Management, Martin Lews, PP, professional pensions, riks, Risk
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Cheltenham has Many Clouds
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pension-playpen-at-cheltenham-2017-tickets-31149934292?aff=eac2 This blog was written while watching Many Clouds race and beat Thistlecrack. This lovely horse died as he passed the line- a bitter pill for race fans to swallow. The joy and sorrow of Cheltenham It seems impossible at this time … Continue reading
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TPR talk tough on DC consolidation -it’s time for one nation DC!
The Pensions Regulator’s “Dc Trust; presentation of scheme data, defines the state of the UK DC market” was published yesterday. http://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/doc-library/dc-trust-presentation-of-scheme-return-data-2017.aspx If we could use a single word to sum it up, that word would be “messy”. To take one … Continue reading
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Pensions + the Media (II); sanitised disruption?
Ironically, the only article that I had rejected by the press last year, was an article on how pension people should deal with the press. The magazine I’d been asked to write for was not one that I read so … Continue reading
Theresa – first in a very short queue?
Sometimes a cartoon will say more than words; this is such a cartoon, these are some times! Theresa May represents Britain and a set of values that are well know if not well articulated. In recent blogs I have … Continue reading