Author Archives: henry tapper

About henry tapper

Founder of the Pension PlayPen, Director of First Actuarial, partner of Stella, father of Olly . I am the Pension Plowman

A red-letter day for our Regulators

Posted on June 28, 2017

Today sees not one but two major papers from our financial regulators. The FCA will publish its final version of the Asset Management Market Study, the Pensions Regulator publishes its report into what happened at BHS. It’s thoughtless of them … Continue reading →

Posted in pensions | 1 Comment

The value to me of “set and hold”!

Posted on June 27, 2017

  The FT is masterful with understatement. A 2% charge can take quite a chunk out of the overall portfolio return If your predicted investment return is (say) inflation +3%, having to earn 2% to pay your investment manager, custodian … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions, pot, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A make or break week for UK investors

Posted on June 26, 2017

Are fund managers the new bankers? If you’ve read the excellent  (draft) FCA Asset Management Market Study, you’d be forgiven to think they were – (and that investment consultants were their knowing flunkies). The question now is how far the FCA … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, consultant, corporate governance, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Target abuse” by South West Trains

Posted on June 25, 2017

Here’s a true story to do with reliability on the railways and why punctuality targets aren’t always in the passenger’s interest. The 6.09am from London Waterloo to Windsor normally takes 55 minutes to cover its 24 miles. Not an exacting … Continue reading →

Posted in pensions | 2 Comments

Why bother? Where would we be if we didn’t?

Posted on June 25, 2017

    It’s 10.30 am. At 5am I woke and packed my bags, I  cycled over to Waterloo. There was no train, I took a bus to Barnes, there was a train. At 8.30 am I got to Lady Lucy, … Continue reading →

Posted in pensions | 3 Comments

Doing our own laundry.

Posted on June 25, 2017

Travelling across south London on a bus, early on a Sunday morning, I can talk to and listen to people who I don’t come across at work. I ask a West Indian nurse what she thinks of her pension, at … Continue reading →

Posted in pensions | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Restoring victim’s confidence in pensions

Posted on June 24, 2017

The confidence I have in pensions is because I know the people who are at the helm give a damn. I am lucky, I can bump into them in all kinds of ways. It is easy for me to say … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, annuity, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

FABI continues on its boring way

Posted on June 23, 2017

First Actuarial’s Best estimate (FAB) Index improved in May, showing a month-end surplus of £295bn across the 6,000 UK defined benefit schemes. Whilst it might not grab the headlines, the FAB Index provides the voice of reason in demonstrating that … Continue reading →

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CETVs; the flight from quality

Posted on June 23, 2017

Both the Times and the Financial Times report today on the anticipated voluntary withdrawals from Britain’s DB pensions through cash equivalent transfer values (CETVs). The FT, relying on Mercer as a source, estimate the withdrawals to be as much as … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Pension promises- “second hand not second rate”.

Posted on June 22, 2017

There’s an old Elvis Costello song (Senior Service) which talks about the DWP They took me in the office and they told me very carefully The way that I could benefit from death and disability I thought of it as … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, pensions | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments