Monthly Archives: July 2020
How can you test the “quality of service” you’re getting from your pensions?
“Value for money is more than just an analysis of cost” – we are told “Value for money is more than just an analysis of the money paid” – we are told “Value for money is also about ‘quality of … Continue reading
Posted in advice gap, age wage, pensions
Tagged FCA, pensions, Quality of service, Sandbox, Value for Money, VFM
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AgeWage enters FCA’s Sandbox
Cohort 6 of the FCA Sandbox has been announced , with the FCA selecting 22 of its 68 applicants. AgeWage, a “pentech” that provides people with value for money scores is pleased to be joining two other pension firms- … Continue reading
Wear a mask – but where?
Today I am preparing for my first expedition outside of the metropolis since March. I am going back to see my Mum in my hometown of Shaftesbury in Dorset. I will have to take precautions with regards PPE as I … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Cerne Abbass, Dorset, Giant, Gold Hill, mask, Shaftesbury, wear a mask
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C19 Actuaries round up (17) including a reappraisal of “excess deaths”.
The Friday Report – Issue 17 By Matt Fletcher and Dan Ryan COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group – Learn. Share. Educate. Influence. Every week, more is written on COVID-19 than any individual could possibly read. Collectively, the COVID‑19 Actuaries Response Group … Continue reading
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The FCA can’t blame the DB transfer debacle on pension freedoms.
Nikhil Rathi, the FCA’s CEO elect is only partly right in linking the upswing in transfers away for DB schemes to the precipitous introduction of pension freedoms. It is very important that the FCA properly understand the cocktail of … Continue reading
Posted in FCA, Financial Conduct Authority, pensions
Tagged DB, DB transfers, FCA, Nikhil Rathi, Port Talbot, The FCA cannot walk away from responsibility for what has happened. A new CEO should not be allowed to blame the Treasury. What happened, was happening even before 2015 and has continued ever since.
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Death by discount rates
Q: When is a million dollars not a million dollars? A: When it is not yet a million dollars. The pensions business is all about the long term. Fund managers like me are responsible for ensuring we have sufficient funds … Continue reading
Time has told for Tideway
So – over three years after writing that Tideway’s activities in the DB transfer market should be stopped, Tideway’s activities in the DB market have been stopped. A note on the FCA’s register says that, as of 3 July, … Continue reading
Posted in advice gap, pensions
Tagged Al Cunningham, Al Rush, DB, DB transfers, James Baxter, NMA, Ollie Smith, Tideway
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“Drawdown doldrums” indeed! Apathy on unadvised drawdown is shocking.
Pension Bee have commissioned Dominic Lindsay to write up the results of research they have carried out with 1000 ordinary people aged 55-70 who had access or tried to access and failed or planned to access their pension pot(s). The … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
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Is HMRC handing the low-paid pension saver a Pyrrhic victory?
The government has today published a ‘call for evidence’ on how to address the different outcomes for lower earners, depending on whether their pension schemes use the relief at source (RAS) or net pay method of tax relief. The call … Continue reading
CDC gets HMRC approval
BREAKING: Collective DC pension schemes will be given legal standing from April 2021, under measures outlined by the Treasury today. https://t.co/n6GAhAMWrA pic.twitter.com/G7NAchYgCr — Josephine Cumbo (@JosephineCumbo) July 21, 2020 CDC is CDC (but also CMP) In another step forward, … Continue reading
Posted in CDC, Payroll, pension playpen, pensions
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