Category Archives: infrastucture

Why we should be proud to invest our savings in real assets!

  My blog yesterday on USS attracted a lot of attention on social media and some interesting comment. This from Ros Altmann – a blog in its own right; Excellent piece Henry. There is insufficient differentiation in this DB debate … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, infrastucture, investment, pensions, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Paying for other people’s pensions

I’ve said it before on this blog, but I’ll say it again. The amount of Council Tax many people pay to fund other people’s pensions exceeds their own contributions into pensions, even when they’ve been auto-enrolled into “workie”.   “You … Continue reading

Posted in de-risking, Financial Education, governance, infrastucture, investment, leadership, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

SHOW ME THE MONEY! What’s going to happen our auto-enrolment savings?

People want to know what happens to the money they invest and we are terrible about explaining where their money ends up. This blog talks about how we can make pension investment as vivid and real as the picture above. Over … Continue reading

Posted in infrastucture, investment, NEST | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Auto-enrolment for HR managers

It’s the employer’s job to get their staff to save. This is the simple message of this guide. Unfortunately, the devil’s in the detail and this guide is quite technical. re being Auto-enrolment is not just about complying with regulations, … Continue reading

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Fund management’s like a car-boot, you’ve got to know what you’re paying (and what you’re buying).

Fund management’s like a car-boot, you’ve got to know what you’re paying (and what you’re buying). Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, Bankers, brand, Farefail, Financial Education, First Actuarial, FSA, hedge funds, infrastucture, investment, London, Management, middleware, NEST | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

#Farefail ; real-rate rail rises – a kick in the teeth

The media seemed to have been surprised by the public outcry in a tenth successive year of real (eg above inflation) rail-fare rises. They shouldn’t be. If ever there was a stealth tax , this is it. Instead of the Government … Continue reading

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Government 9 v Pensions 0 (HT 4-0 (Brown 3 NAPf 1(og)) 2nd half Osbourne (5))

Today was billed as the biggest showdown between the pension bigwigs and the Chancellor since Gordon‘s tax raid in 2007. In between meetings I tried to keep up with events from Westminster and it seemed the second half of the … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, infrastucture, napf, pension playpen, pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement | 1 Comment

Why the DC “game is up” for the active fund managers

Like landed salmon , they flap around on the bank, hoping they may get thrown back in the water. Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, corporate governance, dc pensions, de-risking, infrastucture, Management, pensions, Personal Accounts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Do self-employed “workers” know their pension rights?

The self-employed have been marginal to Pension Reform. An obscure section of the 2008 Pension Act makes it possible for them to take part in NEST, however NEST do not advertise they can receive self-employed contributions and I’d be surprised if they have … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, dc pensions, infrastucture, Management, Payroll, pensions, Personal Accounts, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Auto-enrolment ; winners and losers.

Tesco doesn’t seem to be getting too much credit from the DB aficionados who have been perturbed by its attempts to push back retirement ages as part of the new deal.

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Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, Change, dc pensions, defined aspiration, happiness, infrastucture, pension playpen, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 10 Comments