Innovators ; so much for yesterday – what of tomorrow?

I have reprinted the links to the video and slides from John Hamilton’s presentation yesterday. It is a mark of the interest the Stagecoach/Aberdeen (SASA) deal has had that the blogs surrounding John Hamilton’s appearance have had enormous interest.

But that deal is done and though I expect others will follow, it is dealing with the legacy of DB for the private sector

For most private sector companies, the question is what will the future bring and this is open to debate. To distort a famous saying…

Give me change but not now!

Just as legacy DB has struggled over whether to go with an insurer , stay with the sponsor or move to superfund, another sponsor or even the PPF, – so we are struggling with DC going forward.

It sounds churlish for me to point this out, so great the effort of Stagecoach with its legacy but it does still have 24,000 bus drivers who it employs today and will tomorrow.

My question to them and to the bus companies like them in the UK is what are you going to do and when are you going to do it. Because just as it seems obvious to run on your DB plans than hand the profits to the insurers , so it seems obvious that you consider the DC plans which you are putting in the hands of commercial providers for the meantime.

And here , staring us in the face is the other “obvious” thing for us all to consider

There is a number that emanates from consultancies including WTW and Aon but most recently from Hymans Robertson which talks of these new collective funds providing up to 60% of the DC funds we invest in individually.

That number is being used by the Pension Minister. If it is not disputed, why are we continuing to rely on  DC to pay workplace pensions? Why don’t we grasp the better CDC alternative as soon as we can, even if that will need some effort on all sides?

I suspect in the back of a lot of our minds lurks the statement “Give me Change but Not Now!”

So I put it to Stagecoach and the other bus drivers and the many other large companies who could take a lead on CDC, that now is the time to be bold just as the Trustees of Stagecoach were, just as Aberdeen was. For we cannot go on ducking the challenges we are faced!

Here is the great story of the past, I hope in a year’s time I will be printing the great story of the future!

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Yesterday’s news

If you missed this  coffee morning presentation from John , you are in luck. It’s with you below, with a download if you want to share it – here.

If you want to see the slides they are below and they can be downloaded from this link.

Thanks to all that came and to those who tried but couldn’t get on the call. Let’s move on now – we have another challenge to consider!