It’s that’s time of the year when we don’t know what day it is. Well, according to the newspapers, it’s PENSIONS DAY. pic.twitter.com/ehGyIRL43M
— Alistair McQueen (@HelloMcQueen) December 30, 2019
A bad news pension story? Not for Sue.
Hats off to Tom Kelly, special investigator at the Daily Mail for breaking the story that between 2006 and 2014, thousands of people were scammed by the likes of Steven Ward through schemes such as Capita Oak, Ark, the Henley Retirement Plan and numerous other HMRC accredited occupational pensions.
To say this is stale news would be to state the bleeding obvious. But at least it is front page news which gives people like Sue Flood, some hope that the HMRC will cease harassing her for the money that she had stolen.
The pension scams that the Mail have “unearthed” are all fully documented on Angie Brooks’ Pension Life and on this blog. Steven Ward still walks the beaches of Southern Spain having retired on his ill-gotten gains, meanwhile new scams are being operated which we’ll no doubt still be reading about in ten years time.
What doesn’t change is the misery for the likes of Sue and Dennis and all the other victims- many of whom are too frightened or ashamed to come forward.
Why I’m pleased that Tom has run this story and that the Daily Mail see it as front page news is that it will help relieve the misery for those who have suffered in so many ways.
A good news pension story
As for arguments that Pensions deserves better publicity, we can turn to the Daily Express which runs a heavily politically biased story telling us to fill our boots
Around £3.8billion has been ploughed into stocks funds after the Prime Minister’s landslide win – the biggest influx of cash for more than four years. Experts welcomed the surge in confidence as a huge help for savers and small investors and raised the prospect of “large increases in the value of pension savings across the board in the coming months and years”. Former pensions minister Baroness Altmann said: “This is great news for pensions. The result of the election has been a breath of fresh air for the market, encouraging people to invest in UK stocks.
Of course it isn’t as easy as all that. The big gains on the markets have already been achieved, the US stock markets are at an all time high and even the Brexit-laden FTSE100 is close to its high.
Is now the right time to get investing in pensions – of course it is! Don’t let your money sit in cash if you can get it growing tax-free in real investments, if you are looking like being short of cash in your later years you need to make brave investment decisions, use your workplace pension (or if you’ve got a good one- your SIPP) and save for the long term.
No such thing as bad publicity
Alistair McQueen, there is nothing special about January 30th except it’s pensions day. As I leg it back to London for today’s meetings, I do so with a spring in the step and the hope that 2020 will deliver.
It may not have been the Brexit result everyone wanted but its the result we got. Boris may not be your cup of tea , but he’s your leader. Whether you voted for or against the reality is what happens this morning.
Well done the press for remembering that retirement matters and good luck to Sue and all the victims of pension fraud, let’s hope the next decade’s a better one.
Good luck too to all the pension savers who hopefully can look at their on-line accounts with a bit more confidence.
The point of publicising pensions, is to get people to use them, if you aren’t making use of your pension allowances today, make it your new year resolution to save more and to make sure your investment is in safe markets.
