Category Archives: First Actuarial
Planning for a noble and quick death?
The FT has been doing some research about what motivates people to swap a pension for drawdown. The sample may not have been big but they’re drawing a strange conclusion. The superiority of the death benefits within drawdown are … Continue reading
Posted in Facebook, First Actuarial, pensions, twitter
Tagged CARE, Debora Price, Dementia, Drawdown, jo cumbo, Old age, pension
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Three cheers for the FCA Asset Management Market Study
I got to read MS15/2.3 last night. It was a good read. It’s long and detailed but it’s key findings and remedies are short enough to be listed here. There are the remedies that need a little more consultation;- that … Continue reading
Posted in FCA, Financial Conduct Authority, First Actuarial, pensions
Tagged DWP, FCA, MS15/2.3, Treasury
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FABI – taking the crisis out of pensions!
It is now three months since we launched our First Actuarial Best estimate Index (or FAB Index for short). It has generated a significant amount of interest amongst our clients and across the wider pensions industry – and has even … Continue reading
Posted in First Actuarial, pensions
Tagged Deficit, Fab Index, FABI, pensions, Pensions Regulator, ppf, PPF7800, solvency, TPR
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What do we mean by Independent Financial Education?
This is an article that my firm First Actuarial have been sending to their clients. It’s so clear and simple, I thought I’d share it. Of course we’ll be sending it to Andy Haldane at the Bank of England! What … Continue reading
Quality Assurance from First Actuarial
Sometime you need a job done well, for me it tends to start with water pouring through a light socket after someone left the bath-tap running upstairs! A lot of the time we’re called in to do some financial … Continue reading
Posted in actuaries, First Actuarial, pensions
Tagged Actuarial, First, first actuarial, IFoA, Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, pension, pensions, QAS
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Pension Freedoms need a Pension Dashboard
Jo Cumbo asks how the Pension Freedoms are bedding down. I don’t have access to the big data of an insurer but I am 54 and am now only six months from my entitlement to blow my savings on whatever I … Continue reading
Auto-Enrolment needs more Training and less Selling
The standards adopted by those administering auto-enrolment have been high. Compliance to some complex problems that payroll, HR and pension providers have faced has been impressive. Sure there have been failures but countries (such as Ireland) reviewing the progress of … Continue reading
Posted in First Actuarial, Management, Pension Freedoms, pensions, Pensions Regulator
Tagged auto enrolment, Business, Choose a Pension, compliance, defaqto, efileready, Employment, Financial SatNav, Financial services, Financial Technology, FinTech, ITM, NEST, pension, Pension new, pension playpen, pensionsync, Retirement
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Can IFAs create their own profession?
James Walker has published BWD’s assessment of the prospects for firms offering financial advice as their core product. He paints a picture of rising regulatory costs and sluggish growth prospects preventing IFA practices from employing the young blood to refresh it. Last … Continue reading
Posted in advice gap, FCA, Financial Conduct Authority, First Actuarial, Personality
Tagged advice, Business, career, DWP, Employment, financial advice, financial planning, IFA, Jim Thomson, pension, Pension new, pension playpen, profession, regulatory costs, Thomson Grey Wealth Management, trust
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Beware “black-box” auto-enrolment “solutions”.
Katie Morley of the de Daily Telegraph has written an important article claiming that the occupational schemes set up to relieve the needy of their pension savings before retirement are now turning their sights on auto-enrolment. This may or may not … Continue reading
Posted in First Actuarial, pensions, Pensions Regulator, Popcorn Pensions
Tagged annuity, auto enrolment, black-box, Business, choice, due diligence, DWP, Employment, Financial services, Katie Morley, MAF, National Employment Savings Trust, NEST, payroll bureau, pensions, Research, Retirement, the Daily Telegraph, The Pensions Regulator, workplace pension schemes, workplace Pensions
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The perils of Pre-Selection
Yesterday was dominated by one word – choice. During the day I attended the ICAEW Auto-enrolment conference with around 120 accountants. It was a very serious event, enlivened by an outburst from the floor as an accountant objected to the … Continue reading
Posted in Financial Education, First Actuarial
Tagged CIPP, Friends of Auto-Enrolment, pension playpen, Pre-selection
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