Monthly Archives: January 2017
Where next for “value for money”?
Value for Money is the holy grail for the fiduciaries of workplace pensions. In this article I outline how the providers of workplace pensions are going about establishing value for money and looking at ways to improve things in … Continue reading
Posted in auto-enrolment, pensions
Tagged Dr Chris Sier, FCA, Holy Grail, Value for Money, VFM
2 Comments
DRAWDOWN TAX; I’m as free as a bird (in a cage)
I’m as free as a bird can be when “freedom” is defined and confined by HMRC. “Me” as case study; I have a pension pot which wealth managers call “big” but can only supply me with an income of £15,000 … Continue reading
FCA calls on advisers to take a fiduciary role on transfers.
The FCA has published a very scary note intended for advisers recommending transfers from Defined Benefit schemes . In its statement published on Tuesday, the FCA revealed further failings in the pension transfer advice market, the regulator said some advisors … Continue reading
Myopia and the alternative fact
Not all prejudice is ill-intentioned, I know the author of this comment on a recent blog. He is not ill-intentioned – just short-sighted. There is no one interested to have defined benefit pensions in the UK. They are seem as … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Beveridge, DB, dc, Government, Investment, Plan, retail, Savings, Treasury, Vision
2 Comments
Why we have actively managed funds
The FCA’s Asset Market Study is written with certain corrective bias’ and it should not be taken as the last word on the active/passive debate. A central focus is on the allocation of savings, particularly long-term retirement savings, to active … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Active, adviser, Consumer, FCA, fund management, Funds, Passive, trustees
2 Comments
The Alternative Fact? REPENT!
Vanity’s vulnerability Trump’s weak-spot has been exposed over the weekend. Confronted with photographic evidence that his Inauguration was not as well attended as his predecessor’s, he set his press team to work creating alternative facts. The American dictionary Webster tweeted … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Active, Active Fund management, Alternative facts, Passive, repent, Trump, Truth
3 Comments
Is there a propoganda war against active funds?
The tweet set the scene. Funds Fanatic had complained that the FT were reporting the HL numbers disparagingly. Certainly the FCA would agree with the FT that more Hargreaves Lansdowne investors should be using passive funds. Funds Fanatic is the … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Active, Citywire, ft, Hargreaves Lansdown, Passive, pension, Retirement
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Of discontents and malcontents
Discontent is the first necessity of progress – Thomas A Edison. The negativity that surrounds “Washington” and a the feeling that politicians have let America diminish , spawns Trump and the ambiguos promises we had in his inauguration speech. … Continue reading
Trump #Inauguration – fake views
Touchstones When I don’t know how to react to something, I follow the behaviours of people who do. It is a very good dictum! Trouble is ,some of the time, I think I know how to react and end up adopting positions … Continue reading
Posted in pensions, Trump
Tagged Inauguration, John Lewis, Lesley Griffiths, obama, Selma, Selma Bridge, Trump, Washington
6 Comments
Diversity, Narratives* and Pensions (Con Keating)
This blog first appeared in Professional Pensions, if you’ve read it before, read it again. “What we observe is not nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.” W. Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern … Continue reading
Posted in actuaries, advice gap, Bankers, pensions
Tagged Con Keating, DB, defined benefit, LDI, pensions
3 Comments