Monthly Archives: July 2019

Pensions for all -not just the public sector

Although I’m pleased that pension promises to the Firemen and Judges are to be extended to all public sector employees, I’m sorry for the millions of private sector employees now in DC savings plans whose reasonable expectations were for a … Continue reading

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Are DC trustees worth the money?

  It seems churlish to take up your Monday morning with matters of pensions governance, what with the cheers at Lords, Silverstone and Wimbledon sill ringing round the country but I will! My blog yesterday set out the case for … Continue reading

Posted in advice gap, age wage, pensions, trustee | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The DC Trust – a pension appendix

The appendix Nobody knows exactly why we have an appendix, but removing it isn’t harmful. Appendicitis typically starts with a pain in the middle of your tummy (abdomen) that may come and go. (NHS inform). I feel much the same about … Continue reading

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Time to tackle pensions tax

Pension taxation isn’t working. It is benefiting those who find it easy to save and not incentivising those who don’t. It is causing doctors to work below their peak capacity and demanding up to 25% more in contributions from our … Continue reading

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Drivel is Drivel – whoever says it

I read articles by Jack Bogle and Warren Buffet and John Kay and Terry Smith because I like to understand how money can be managed on my behalf better. I like to improve my understanding. And occasionally I read drivel. … Continue reading

Posted in pensions | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

The value you get for your pension money

Independent help for all pension savers I started yesterday in the swanky new film studio under the FT’s Bracken House. It had to be built on stilts and sound and vibration sealed as the district line runs right below it. … Continue reading

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Giving doctors a break

“82% of consultants say they are are or are planning  cutting down on work” – Dr Tony Goldstone You can listen here to Dr Goldstone explain the issues facing doctors who find themselves on the cliff edge of taxation and … Continue reading

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Cyber-power; is Facebook our new Government?

When your bobbing up and down on the Thames in a wooden boat for a few days, it’s difficult to imagine how tech platforms are changing the world, but returning to terra- firma and reading “the Fracturing of the Global … Continue reading

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HR and the decline of empathy

I wrote to my HR department to tell them I had had some emergency treatment. What I got back surprised me, an admission that they knew nothing about it – contractual sickness terms  –  and a sign off that reads … Continue reading

Posted in NHS, pensions | Tagged , , , , | 8 Comments

They shall not grow old!

Yesterday I wrote about how 40% of those who could claim pensions credit don’t. Today I’m writing about Nigel and Sheila, my boating friends who have a related problem. Nigel is 75 in a fortnight, has been deferring his defined … Continue reading

Posted in age wage, pensions | 3 Comments