Category Archives: accountants
The trouble with experts
All week long my twitter feed has been troubled by experts. It’s like the hot weather bringing the flies into your home, they bite you all over – they don’t even leave you alone when you sleep, I open up … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, pensions
Tagged economists, Financial economics, Flies, pensions
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HMRC and FCA complicit in the democratisation of villainy.
If the FCA want to get to grips with the problem of contingent (conditional) charging, they had better have a look at the taxation of advice and make changes in the Finance Act 2018 to the way we tax advice. First … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, advice gap, dc pensions, pensions
Tagged advice, democatisation, FCA, HM Treasury, HMRC, IFA, pensions, transfers, villainy
15 Comments
How certain are my client’s state benefits?
The old adage “there’s nothing certain except death and taxes”, sadly did not include pensions, not even the state pension. Behavioural science suggests that the further we look into the future , the more we crave the security of certainty. … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, actuaries, advice gap, pensions
Tagged auto enrolment, death and taxes, Ferret, Gareth Morgan, pensions, state pension
3 Comments
It’s not just IFAs that should be livid!
Here is the note I wrote when I read New Model Advisers report On why FSCS cannot determine its current levy (uncertainty over Strand Capital) On why FSCS has to unravel its past compensation (uncertainty over Arch Cru) Today (Jan … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, advice gap, FCA, governance, pensions
Tagged FCA, FSCS, Funds, Gallium, Ken Davey, Nescape, SIPP
1 Comment
Auto-enrolment for all?
The Government has leaked details of the findings of their auto-enrolment review and what its wanting to do about them. Each of the four proposals outlined below has merit, though they won’t be achieved without protest from those who will pay more into … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, auto-enrolment, pensions
Tagged auto enrolment, David Gauke, DWP, pensions, Politics
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Salary Sacrifice – a foot in the door for the poorly pensioned?
Everybody knows that the pension tax-relief system is heavily weighted in favour of the have’s who get big income tax incentives. It is weighted against the low waged who can get excluded from contribution incentives altogether. Steve Webb, who thinks … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, actuaries, advice gap, pensions
Tagged auto enrolment, HMRC, net-pay, pensions, relief at source, salary sacrifice, Steve Webb
15 Comments
“A decision to take a transfer cannot be reversed and should not be rushed”
This blog is mainly written for deferred members of the British Steel Pension Scheme, but many other people may find it interesting. There’s no doubt that what is going on in Tata-land, will go on with other employers who feel … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, advice gap, Bankers, Change, drawdown, Facebook, pensions
Tagged advice, Al Rush, BSPS, CETV, Drawdown, Facebook, pensions, Time, transfer-value, TUC
8 Comments
DWP now leads the way on cost disclosure
What’s this about? In a first-rate document, the DWP have set out radical proposals to allow ordinary people to see and compare the costs their trustees are paying for the investment of their pension money. These proposals go well beyond … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, advice gap, drawdown, DWP, IGC, pensions
Tagged David Farrar, David Gauke, DWP, NEST, NOW, pensions
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Pure DC at your university? Mike Otsuka speaks out
Mike is now a regular writer on this blog; he’s an LSE philosopher, a member of the USS pension scheme and an expert in pensions (not a “pensions expert”). Southampton has come out in favour of closing USS’s defined benefit … Continue reading
Transparency as disinfectant
Wherever possible – organisations should aspire to be transparent in their dealings, sharing information with all stakeholders. Bank wins by being straight with customers Making information difficult to access causes problems. My friends at Quietroom tell the story of how, … Continue reading
Posted in accountants, actuaries, advice gap, pensions
Tagged Transfer, Transparency, USS
2 Comments