Author Archives: henry tapper

About henry tapper

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

The horror of letting the taxman take your unspent pension pot!

I have swum in a pool where mournful pensioners refill the water level with their tears. Bless Steve Hunt and all the others in that swimming pool. Open the article for page after page of indignation at the treasury’s designs … Continue reading

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Where have the IGCs gone? What are we using to compare VFM?

Royal London wrote the last IGC report I commented on. They always looked to IGCs to promote Royal London’s pension capacity. But IGC’s were published the same year as pension freedom came in and the DC workplace pension providers were … Continue reading

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Burnham’s big issue reaches me somewhere I never expected a prime minister to speak

  I know this is a little geeky but I like someone who reaches out to me this way. I’m pleased to see Andrew Burnham writing this himself (I assume it is himself who’s taken a few minutes to write … Continue reading

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Autism -“Is it a superpower? No. Does it let me do things others can’t? Probably”

There is not much that I can say that Jon Dunkley has not said for himself. He is autistic, he is articulate and he gives us insight to many situations we have all been through. Thanks Johnny Timpson OBE for … Continue reading

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Why Gen Z are abandoning their pensions – I agree with Tom for a different reason.

Tom has written a great article that appears below and in the Times. I agree that there is good reason to prioritise other things than long-term saving when at work. But our parents insisted we paid the stamp (as my … Continue reading

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I wasn’t black, was at Cambridge and am still prejudiced

I read this story with a sickening feeling of guilt. I was boasting last week that I read English at Cambridge like Andy Burnham and Amy Hunt as if that made me something. Of course it does, it makes you … Continue reading

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2.4m People flexibly accessed Pension Income before Age 65. The Treasury is the Big Winner

This may or nay not be true but whether this was chicanery by the Exchequer of not, there is a lot of money that will not be paid as pension that was incentivised to be so. I’m agreeing with James … Continue reading

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The unions fired up by “collective pensions”

I have to say, I have been surprised and pleased by the interest of union pension officers in what we can now call “collective pensions” (formerly CDC!). There are three dates in my diary to catch up with them. The … Continue reading

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“There’s nothing special about dividends” – says Robin Powell.

This article is important to pensions though it’s aimed at people with portfolios of directly held shares. Pension funds of course don’t pay a dividend, they pay a pension which is an encashment of the fund. But people base their … Continue reading

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Life Insurers promote themselves as different but they dependably deliver the same thing!

Who to believe? Both Scottish Widows and Standard Life are advertising their products with different messages but with the same pictures, pictures of happy clients being supported by human beings and by financial technology. The financial conundrum for insurance companies … Continue reading

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