Category Archives: David Pitt-Watson

“What’s expensive for a pension these days?”

Most UK pension people may still agree with you and see 0.9% as cheap but not me. It might have been cheap in 2000 and it certainly isn’t today! Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, brand, corporate governance, customer service, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, fish, one pound fish, pensions, Personality, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

No win no fee – one way to clean up asset management

I met yesterday with a Swiss firm whose business is to reduce the investment costs for large investors (typically with €500m +). The model is simple, no retainer – they receive 50% of the savings from their work. They are a … Continue reading

Posted in Bankers, Change, corporate governance, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, de-risking, Fred Goodwin, FSA, Management, napf, pension playpen, pensions, RBS, redington, Retirement, twitter | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Should we measure pension fees as “risk”?

This is simple measure which makes such fundamental sense that any fool can grasp it. Continue reading

Posted in David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, de-risking, pension playpen, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Better ways to diversify the default.

When people see the jigsaw being put together , we may even get better public confidence in workplace pension schemes – something devoutly to be hoped for! Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, Financial Education, First Actuarial, leadership, NEST, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Poor execution – a pigsty – not a playpen

A researcher I was speaking to yesterday asked whether I considered the bad practices associated with the poor execution of trades by fund managers as criminal fraud. His argument was that indirect benefits such as the receiving of rugby tickets from … Continue reading

Posted in David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, First Actuarial, governance, pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Johnson v Keating ; a pensions heavyweight title fight

There are two documents sitting on my desktop this morning. The first is a paper by Con Keating. Con believes that the best way of providing pensions is collectively through large organisations who are able to offer and keep future … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, auto-enrolment, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, pension playpen, pensions, Personal Accounts, Personality | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

DC Trustees – asleep at the wheel?

I was spending insomniac hours reading posts about savings on http://www.moneysavingexpert.com when I came upon a thread about the ABI 14 agreeing to disclose transactional costs from next summer. There wasn’t much on the comments board – one post stood out. … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, corporate governance, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, First Actuarial, Management, NEST, pension playpen, pensions, Personal Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The dam is full – manage the sluices

It can’t be much fun at the ABI these days. The FSA are investigating mis-pricing of annuities, the OFT are studying the distribution insurers use for pensions and just about every consumerist from Gregg McClymont to the NAPF are calling … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, annuity, customer service, David Pitt-Watson, de-risking, pension playpen, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

NEST Insight; what the 11m+ “unpensioned” think.

NEST has produced a chunky report that “takes the temperature of automatic enrolment”. This promises to be the first of a series and as the first has five years of accumulated insights to lay before us. I thoroughly recommend it … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, corporate governance, customer service, David Pitt-Watson, First Actuarial, leadership, Liberal Democrats, napf, NEST, Payroll, pensions, Personal Accounts, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments