Category Archives: Public sector pensions

Buying pensions with certainty need not cost the house

it’s time that the Government progressed its role as a partner in private provision, further than the tentative steps it has taken this parliamentary term. Continue reading

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The worst kind of paternalism

They’re all , fat and old, queuing for the House of Lords Continue reading

Posted in Music, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Public sector pensions, RBS | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Who’ll blow the whistle on the annuity fiasco?

Ros Altmann has got a lot of stick from pension folk for feeding the bad news on annuity rates to the Daily Mail, resulting in this front page. Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, annuity, auto-enrolment, pensions, Personality, Popcorn Pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement | 16 Comments

How HMRC passes the buck on Pension Liberation Fraud

The only people who seem to be being dumped on are occupational pension trustees. Continue reading

Posted in pensions, Public sector pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Taxpayer subsidy for public service pensions to double over 6 years

This is an article from Michael Johnson. I agree with the numbers but I’m not so sure about the sentiment that lies behind it. As a nation we can afford anything if we chose to prioritise the spending and we … Continue reading

Posted in Financial Education, First Actuarial, pensions, Public sector pensions, Royal Mail, smelly | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Hats off to Steve Webb for our new pensions system!

It’s good to see the publication of the DWP’s white paper Security in Retirement – towards a new pension system. It announces an initiative first promoted by Frank Field in the late 1990s but thought then “unthinkable”;. While I agree with … Continue reading

Posted in auto-enrolment, pension playpen, pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement, steve webb | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

“Pensions aren’t dead yet!” January pension play pen lunch

At an unusually passionate lunch, notable for the absence of the principal villain, Michael Johnson, the Play Pen set about putting pensions to rights. For those not in the loop, the Telegraph posted an article espousing the views of the aforementioned Johnson which … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, Bankers, pension playpen, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

It’s charges not contributions that are on the “race to the bottom”!

I’ve been reviewing the 2013 charging options available to advisers using Scottish Widows – “Corporate Pensions; RDR and charging shape options”. The document gives advisers numerous options to pass on fees to members of their workplace pension plans. I wonder whether … Continue reading

Posted in actuaries, annuity, auto-enrolment, dc pensions, governance, pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

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

Is there a future for defined benefit pensions?

The TUC has published a working paper written by my colleague Hilary Salt entitled “the future of defined benefit pensions provision” which is a very good read. You can reach it here. The wags among you may consider that you could … Continue reading

Posted in dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, Fiduciary Management, Financial Education, First Actuarial, NEST, pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement, Trades Union Congress | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments