Monthly Archives: January 2024
Don’t spend it all at once
My Grandma gave me as a 21st birthday present the proceeds of a life insurance policy . It came as a cheque for around £400 in a card with the message “don’t spend it all at once”. I went to … Continue reading
Sarah Smart speaks frankly to the Pension PlayPen
The coffee morning today focussed on ten questions What’s the biggest challenge for the Pensions Regulator in 2024? How’s the new mindset developing? Were you pleased with the General Code? What can you tell us about the DB Funding Code? … Continue reading
Sarah Smart , Chair of TPR – live on Pension PlayPen – 10.30 this morning
Thanks for all the questions and for the requests for free links for this morning’s coffee morning. I’m back to back till 10.30 so if you want a free link , please don’t call or mail but just … Continue reading
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What’s driving competitive flows in the Australian Super system
There are two ways of looking at Australian pensions. There is the politician’s view, which picks the Aussie policies that validate the UK pension policy agenda. Then there’s the view of the commercial operators – primarily the master trusts, who … Continue reading
Gregg’s super pot of glorious illiquidity
Coverage of the Government’s ‘productive finance’ agenda, heralded at the 2023 Mansion House speech, has naturally focused on the reforms proposed to pension schemes: beefing up UK pension schemes to allow a smaller number of bigger schemes to deploy economies of scale, … Continue reading
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WTW predicts £80bn in pension bulk annuity and longevity swap transactions in 2024
Willis Towers Watson are usually on the money with their predictions. Today they have issues a press release that shows a record year for insurance companies buying-out DB liabilities (euphemistically known as “de-risking”) The UK defined benefit pensions market is … Continue reading
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Settle up , scale up or settle down? Start-ups face choices.
It’s well over 5 years since I and Chris Sier founded AgeWage so I read this headline in the FT with interest! In truth, the aspirations I had for AgeWage – to change the way we understood pensions- have not … Continue reading
Doing my tax assessment was a pleasure (sort of)
If you’re lucky enough to earn a bit , you get to do a tax assessment and if you don’t – there really is no excuse – you’ve had enough warnings by text and mail. When I first started doing … Continue reading
Why I’m going to #PLSAinvest24 next month
It may be expensive, it may be time-consuming and it may be awash with alcohol, but the PLSA investment conference at the end of February is a must-do – do On the buy-side are the paying members of the PLSA … Continue reading
Britain should not disrespect Fujitsu or Japan.
The FT has published a thoughtful article about the damage that Mr Bates v the Post Office is doing to Fujitsu – both in the UK and in Japan. It concludes While some investors view faults with the Horizon … Continue reading