Category Archives: actuaries

Con Keating asks “Does life-styling make sense?”

Posted on September 17, 2019 by

  In the course of my recent work on value for money metrics, I have come across several schemes which apply life styling to older ages and many have argued that these strategies merit a benchmark which differs from the … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, dc pensions, de-risking, pensions | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

“CDC could solve freedoms issue”-Boulding

Posted on September 13, 2019 by

Scanning the depressing progression of fake news on my linked in timeline, my eye was caught by a very odd post indeed. There’s a lot going on here and I decided to probe the link to what Adrian is saying.  … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, age wage, CDC, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A proper discussion on how long we live

Posted on September 11, 2019 by

The Long and Short of Life Expectancy – – @bbcradio4 complete with ⁦@RedActuary⁩ https://t.co/4SBQLWe2e1 — alan chaplin (@achaplin71) September 11, 2019 This is such a good discussion on how we measure life expectancy that I don’t want to spoil it … Continue reading →

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

The cost of turning pot to pension

Posted on September 5, 2019 by

  I’m pleased to hear that Scottish Widows are planning to open their standard annuity product to the open market (previously only Scottish Widows customers could access this product). Their marketing people tell us It will be available directly from … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, age wage, annuity, pensions | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Why do DB transfer values make me sick?

Posted on August 29, 2019 by

One of the things ordinary people find hardest to work out is why their share of a defined benefit scheme can go up when stock markets go down. This happened last month where the stock market fell. But in August, … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, BSPS, FCA, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

The impact of NDAs on pension outcomes

Posted on July 23, 2019 by

NDAs (non disclosure agreements), have been much in the news in the past week. The government says it will crack down on the use of workplace “gagging clauses” to cover up allegations of harassment, discrimination and assault. Many businesses use … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Have pension freedoms really lost us £4bn?

Posted on July 21, 2019 by

So many of us warned at the time that pension ‘freedoms’ were a BAD idea. We were right. Ironic then that a former pension minister who so favoured it (annuities bad, cash good) is quoted in this Times investigation bemoaning … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, BSPS, pensions | Leave a comment

Millennial fightback

Posted on June 4, 2019 by

The greatest current threat to motor manufacturers is that people no longer want to drive. The second biggest threat is that people no longer want to own a car. That’s the message that comes loud and clear from an article … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Pension fission* and fusion* at DG conferences

Posted on May 5, 2019 by

  I’m not a fan of pension conferences – they are generally a way to reinforce existing prejudices and give participants a sense of their importance without challenge. But recently I’ve been working with DG publishing on conferences that bring … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, age wage, pensions | Leave a comment

CDC – a silver wage not a silver bullet

Posted on April 3, 2019 by

  Yesterday Ros (Baroness) Altmann hosted a webinar on retirement income which prompted some interesting follow up on social media. Here’s Mark Ormston of Retirement Line. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Ros Altmann on the ‘future of retirement income’ masterclass … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, CDC, pensions, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment