Monthly Archives: November 2021

“Put out more flags” – trustees’ new duties to protect the scammed.

Today, November 30th 2021, is the first on which trustees of occupational schemes will be required to throw red and orange flags at members requesting to transfer their scheme benefits into another arrangement of dubious value. The government response to … Continue reading

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If not us who? If not now -when? Let’s bring back pensions.

As someone who has priced drawdown and annuities I can tell you the NPV, RoE, RoC and DPP are far more attractive on drawdown and asset management than they were on Open Market annuities. Why else do you think there … Continue reading

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Is Omicron the new Delta – and what does that mean to markets?

Robert Armstrong published this chart in this morning’s newsletter, it’s of the S&P 500’s progress and it shows the impact of the sell-off of energy and travel stocks on Friday. Robert asks us to find the similar drawdown for the … Continue reading

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9 million pension savers marching down the hill!

Is Steve Webb, pension’s Grand old Duke of York.? Having marched us to the top of the hill and is he preparing to march us down again? LCP’s paper on how we spend our pension pot asks “is there a … Continue reading

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Why the pension challenge to the Executive won’t go away

  The biggest remaining challenge for trustees and employers is how to get their closed DB pension schemes safely over the line without a nasty covenant mishap en route. – Simon Willes (Chair of Gazelle) I would agree with this … Continue reading

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“Unfinished business” – Steve Webb’s pension freedom reset.

  Steve Webb is back, doing what he should be doing in a commercial pensions practice. He’s been busy finding ways to make the pension freedoms work, which must be a refreshing change from sorting out underpayments from the state … Continue reading

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Will tomorrow’s pension decisions focus on cost , value or both?

I’ve now had a chance to properly read the Pension Policy Institute’s ” What is the impact on member outcomes of different non-capped charging structures? It’s a splendid piece of work, and it’s the second important contribution to the debate … Continue reading

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How Omicron came to light – Covid-ARG separates fact from fiction

In our new blog our man in South Africa @lrossouw discusses what we know about newly emerged variant B.1.1.529 and shows that it is not correct to attribute the recent spike in cases to the variant. Nonetheless, cases there are … Continue reading

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SUEZ – harnessing payroll’s power for good.

  I have written before about SUEZ’s can-do attitude to solving their worker’s financial problems. We are currently engaged with Michelle Sutton in helping staff get to know their workplace pension and use it to improve the outcomes of their … Continue reading

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Slackening the charge cap presents a challenge to DC trustees to raise their game

  Conveniently for me today, and importantly for UK pensions tomorrow, the PPI yesterday published  a study of the impact on member outcomes of different non-capped charging structures. Launching today at an event expertly chaired by @JosephineCumbo What is the … Continue reading

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