Monthly Archives: December 2023
Job done for DB schemes?
The PPF Purple book was published this week and – as expected – it told a story of corporate DB funds in aggregate surplus. Toby Nangle’s FT article beautifully illustrates just how much a fourfold increase in gilt yields makes … Continue reading
The impact of the Basel Endgame on UK Pensions – Thomas Aubrey
I am pleased to be asked to be able to publish this excellent article by Thomas Aubrey (thanks to Con Keating for intermediation). I’m not sure why this has not been picked up in the mainstream financial press. I hope … Continue reading
Value for money from the tax we pay on pensions
UK pensions tax relief hits ‘eye-watering’ £51.3bn in 2022/23 The cost of UK pensions tax relief has continued to climb, according to data from HMRC, with income tax relief on pension contributions in 2022/23 reaching £25.4bn, marking a £5.5bn … Continue reading
Taking the piss on the railways
Last weekend I reported on broken bridges, closed main lines and industrial action. Yesterday we saw continued consequences of the infrastructure fail between Woking and Basingstoke, the closure of GWR and SWT lines west of London and yet another failure … Continue reading
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What makes technology so hard
Vodafone is a life saver for me. It provides me with broadband through its dongles, allows me to access 5g through phones it supplies me and my family with and it backs up my data to the cloud. What I … Continue reading
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Midlife MOT – empowering the 50 somethings?
I am sitting in on a call with Jo Churchill MP , Andy Briggs, Phoenix CEO , Catherine Foot of Phoenix Insights and a lady from Sara Thompson from Phoenix’s HR team. Everyone on the panel – other than the … Continue reading
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Clara’s Party
Clara celebrated its first deal in style last night. The deal with Sears’ Pension Scheme is the proof of concept for superfunds but it a £31m boost for the 9,500 pensioners and deferred pensioners who otherwise had the eventual prospect … Continue reading
Midlife MOT – empowering the 50 somethings?
I am sitting in on a call with Jo Churchill MP , Andy Briggs, Phoenix CEO , Catherine Foot of Phoenix Insights and a lady from Sara Thompson from Phoenix’s HR team. Everyone on the panel – other than the … Continue reading
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CDC has been captured , bound and gagged.
CDC started out as such an uncomplicated idea – a “wage for life that lasted as long as you do”. But that was before the pensions industry got to work on it. What we have now is a mess … Continue reading
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Bim gets his feet out of the “wet cement of institutional rigidity”
Last week I reported on Bim Afolami’s bold bold new approach to regulating the regulators This week , I decided to pedal over to Old Queen Street, by the Treasury, to witness this wise-cracking lawyer, banker and now Minister in … Continue reading
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Tagged Bim Afolami, regulation, safest graveyard, Treasury, wet cement
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