Bloomfield – Hymans
Patrick Bloomfield died two years ago, his legacy is strong, young and bold.
Patrick Bloomfield inspired Jamie Smith and and Alexandra Miles to deliver a lecture and then a report. Now one half of the Smith/Miles combo appears on Darren and Nico’s podcast , much to my pleasure.
I have nothing but good to say about this podcast (something that is long overdue).
You can click through to Jamie Smith’s and Alexander Miles’ report at the end of this blog; or simply click to the podcast, – rather than hear why I think Smith/Miles should be part of everyone’s pension nutrition.
For young and old
I have been reminded to read this report every day since it was reported a couple of weeks ago, because my actuarial friends think that it is outstanding work. I still haven’t and I will but before I do , I got a chance to correspond with Alexandra (Al) Miles and now to listen to Jamie Smith on Darren and Nico’s podcast.
You can listen to it here, it is a cut above anything else that has come out on the podcast recently, to my listening – ever.
Renee and Paul, the two characters that express the different financial lives of “Retirement reimagined”, come to life as Jamie introduces them to us.
Clearly Nico and Darren have read the stories and the paper. The podcast comes to life with the guest taking hold of things and a deep seriousness that has been noticeably absent of late – not VFM to me. Why weren’t we having this kind of discussion at Manchester?
The years of Renee and Paul’s life is noticed, like a good novel. I’m looking forward to “Linen Years” and “Television Years” in Retirement Reimagined.
This brings Darren and Nico to life as hosts. It made me wanting to have all 80 minutes of this podcast. The language is violent, “unacceptable” is the adjective used of people who are prepared to accept poverty. The funding of security comes out of the needs of people, that was what made Jamie’s reporting of his work so wholesome.
As my friend Andrew Young is also reminding me, this kind of analysis starts from the important things – where you live, whether you own that place, Paul is going to be fine and Renee is not, horribly unequal. Pensions are the second largest contributors to inequality (housing and work – which is the cause of inequality, which the symptom?).
Then the shock of the podcast, the view from Jamie that there are many people who shouldn’t be saving more, they are the lower earners and non-earners who can get more from benefits, both before and after getting the state pension. This tells us that saving more will not solve problems for a group of people who are generally thought as not saving enough.
For an eighteen year old joining the workforce tomorrow, the state pension of today does not look a likelihood for their older years. The Icelandic model of working out the state pension under Alexandra and Jamie , I don’t know what that is, I want to now. A lot of the fairness of the future seem to be built on the principal of CDC. A lot of what Jamie says is about buying pension years ahead – that’s what CDC should be doing.
Unsurprisingly, Jamie is keen on CDCs and that is in line with this guy’s views , which are like mine. “DB got away from us“, he says he’s worried that CDC gets like that. Everyone wants it, but when it comes down to it, people will want back what they had today.
My friend had sent me a mail
Annoyingly there are 2 James Smith in the pensions world.
One at Resolution Foundation and one at Hymans. The latter is worth following.
He coauthored the paper with Alexandra Miles and co presented the speech who kicked it off.
My point is that rather than be at PUK (which feels like a legacy), he was at a conference run by Stream. It sounds interesting and the future.
There are Miles/Smith gigs in November, the three people who matter for you, for whom reimagining retirement should be for will emerge in your minds if you go and see them.
Here’s what I heard in the last few minutes (amazing I was still listening 80 minutes in)
As for “Value for Money; pensions needs to be something that keeps people out of poverty in later life, if they’ve got that they can go on with something else, something that takes them to wealth.
I’m going to read this report, Darren says dogs come out of it with no fair share. “Good“, I say, I’m fed up with dogs getting better treated than folk (old and young)!
May we have more podcasts like this boys?
