Monthly Archives: March 2017
Get a grip and a sense of humour
The sky is full of helicopters and the streets wail with sirens. It is 9 am on the morning after the latest “terrorist” attack and Westminster and the City are on red alert. One nutter decided to go on the … Continue reading
Cridland and the price of state dependency
John Cridland’s consultation report into the state pension age, commissioned by Ros Altmann and delivered today, does not say quite what the modernisers wanted it to. Accelerated pension ages and the scrapping of the triple lock deliver a double … Continue reading
Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions
Tagged Cridland, dependency, John Cridland, pension, Pension Freedoms, pensions freedom, Personal Finance, Taxation
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Standard Life’s IGC Statement – two greens and a red!
The Standard Life IGC’s chair report was published on Friday. You can find it here https://www.standardlife.co.uk/c1/independent-governance-committee.page. As a note to Standard Life, it would be good if this report could be given more prominence on your home page, you can … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Chair, GARS, IGC, Performance, Rene Poisson, Standard Life, statement
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My biggest financial decision was made with professional advice.
The most important single financial decision facing the baby-boomers of middle England today is what to do with their defined benefit pension rights. It is – alas – a binary decision as few schemes offering split transfer values; the choice is “should I stay … Continue reading
FAB index up despite fall in gilt yields!
In contrast to the PPF 7800 index and other commentators’ indices, First Actuarial’s Best estimate (FAB) Index improved in February to a surplus of £288bn across the 6,000 UK defined benefit schemes. This was despite a sharp fall in … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Best estimates, Deficits, Fab Index, FABI, pensions, PPF 7800
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The ABI goes FABI on claims!
Readers of this blog listening to the ABI’s Huw Evans on Wake up to Money, may have been spluttering into their tea and biscuits! The ABI are faced with a cut in the discount rate used to calculate compensation … Continue reading
Are our train companies accountable – South West Trains?
I look out of my window at a South West Trains 8 coacher to London Waterloo. I am 25 miles from that station and to get there I need to pay £10.10. ] The train is well known to me, … Continue reading
The Prudential’s 2017 IGC Chair report
The Prudential’s Lawrence Churchill has published the Prudential IGC’s Chair Statement (the first of the crop). You can read it here https://www.pru.co.uk/pdf/PRUAG5076_A.pdf. Last year, I reviewed this Statement and gave it the thumbs up, I’m going to give it … Continue reading
“So what’s the problem?” Con Keating on the PLSA’s consolidation paper.
The PLSA paper “The case for consolidation” begs an important question; one far broader than it addresses. The Pensions Regulator and DWP have concluded that DB pensions do not suffer from a problem of systemic risk, but the … Continue reading
Why we are all regulators
A regulator is generally a device that maintains a designated characteristic in a system. In a financial sense, it ensures that the rules that govern our dealings are understood, maintained and enforced. We have regulation because we value a system … Continue reading
Posted in advice gap, Blogging, pensions
Tagged Angie Brooks, Christopher Lean, DB, liberation fraud, Pension Freedoms, scams
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