Category Archives: investment

New torment for investment consultants – Mike Foster.

Posted on September 16, 2017 by

  Mike is a senior consultant at Montfort Communications. Until recently he was assistant editor at Financial News and that journalistic pedigree shines through in this remarkable piece of writing. Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind … Continue reading →

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

Workplace Pension winners and losers- Punter Southall Aspire do the numbers (Now with added NEST!)

Posted on September 13, 2017 by

Employers selecting DC default investment funds for their workforce pensions assume they’re making a wise investment choice. However, a new report, ‘Who’s performing well?’ from Punter Southall Aspire, which examined nine major DC pension providers’ default pension funds in their … Continue reading →

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

Posted on August 1, 2017 by

  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

In denial and in disgust – investment consultants and the FCA.

Posted on November 26, 2016 by

I went to the Vuelio blogger awards last night, which was fun, young, female and loud. I learned that I am unusual in not making money out of my blog and that I could make this a mobile advertising platform for … Continue reading →

Posted in investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Activism over activity – we want effective asset management.

Posted on November 22, 2016 by

Reading the FCA’s Asset Management Market Study, you’d be tempted to give up on active asset management (to be frank you might to give up on investment funds altogether). Daniel Godfrey has a piece in the FT claiming that the … Continue reading →

Posted in IGC, investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Transparency Zeitgeist is upon us

Posted on May 21, 2016 by

I am a frugal man, the £3.50 I paid for this morning’s FT was grudgingly passed to my newsagent. But I wanted to capture the headline and read about Josephine’s reporting of a meeting with my friends Andy Agethangelou and … Continue reading →

Posted in accountants, Henry Tapper blog, investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

To understand value, get a grip on price

Posted on April 24, 2016 by

Workplace pensions are not priced as they seem. When an employer chooses a workplace pension, he/she sees member borne charges and employer charges. The employer charges are paid by the employer as fees (anything from £0 -£1200 pa, member borne … Continue reading →

Posted in IGC, investment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

IGCs – a final reckoning

Posted on April 23, 2016 by

Here is a summary of the IGC reports analysed on this blog. If you want to read my assessments in detail, please use the search engine. I have segmented the blogs as you can see. It may be unfair to … Continue reading →

Posted in governance, IGC, investment, Pension Freedoms, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why assume gains before they are earned? (guest blog by Ralph Frank)

Posted on January 21, 2016 by

  Downturns in financial markets have been known to trigger bouts of introspection.  Current markets seem to be no different in this regard.  Some investors have seen their carefully crafted plans blown off course, possibly not for the first time, … Continue reading →

Posted in investment, pensions | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Paying for other people’s pensions

Posted on December 22, 2015 by

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