Category Archives: annuity
“Too prudent for its own good” – how under-risking DB schemes causes new problems.
Someone , somewhere on the multiple threads surrounding USS, has asked me if I think that transfers out of USS are likely to be the next miss-selling scandal. I think it unlikely, and to explain why, I need to explain … Continue reading
Something “DC” that John Ralfe and I agree on!
I sometimes think John and I will never agree, I am forever looking at the world half full and he “half empty”, where I see opportunity, he sees danger, where he sees certainty, I see parsimony. But when John posted … Continue reading
Transfer carnage at BSPS – the truth revealed
The full impact of transfers on the British Steel Pension Scheme has been revealed in this perfunctory tweet The British Steel Pension Scheme has paid just over £1.5bn from around 4000 DB transfers to date. Around 3700 transfers still to be processed. … Continue reading
Time for a DC upgrade?
I was wading through yet another long and technical explanation of CDC when I got my Eureka moment! I don’t want a CDC plan, I want a DC upgrade! I’m not dissing legal eagle Sandeep Maudgil (who’s soon to appear … Continue reading
Ways of staying financially strong in later life
I normally write about money, particularly about saving for retirement. Over the last couple of evenings, I’ve been lucky enough to attend two excellent discussions, not about saving, but about creating an infrastructure around you in later years that makes those … Continue reading
Has the hardest nastiest problem in finance just got a little easier?
I enjoyed reading this serious and sensible argument by Steven Lowe of “Just”. I suspect that most financial advisers reading it will conclude, as I do, that planning an income for the final years of someone’s life is so fraught that (if … Continue reading
The legitimate concerns of BSPS members
‘ From the little time I have spent talking online with BSPS members, I have been impressed with the matter of fact way they are dealing with the choices presented to them. Here is a case study of the complexity faced … Continue reading
You wait years for good pension communications and then…..
All the best documents can be digested at a glance- think P60 ( or P45 if you’re more used to them)! Simple lay-out , necessary information, few words, maximum impact as it’s all there on one sheet. You wait years … Continue reading
It’s not “advice v guidance”; it’s “advice v selling”.
I have in my hand a little A5 leaflet from the Pensions Advisory Service , entitled Advice and Guidance ; Recognising the difference. I will try to get an electronic link to it but for now you’ll have to … Continue reading
Advising the 5,000; so where are the loaves and fishes?
The mass market of people retiring over the next few years no default means to spend their money and no access to suitably priced advice. That is the conclusion of the FCA consultation on Retirement Outcomes that has just closed. … Continue reading