Category Archives: Retirement

The Spurious Certainty of Chicken Licken

Posted on April 24, 2012 by henry tapper

There are two certainties – death and taxes; oh – add to that a pension in payment! Or so the officers of the DWP , the Government Actuary and the Pensions Regulator would have it. GAD tried to knock the idea … Continue reading →

Posted in annuity, dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, Management, NEST, pension playpen, pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 126 Comments

How shares work (for us and our pensions)

Posted on April 22, 2012 by henry tapper

Shares haven’t worked well for us over the past twelve years. World stock markets, especially the mature markets in Britain , Japan and the US, are worth less today than they were at the turn of the millenium. While some company’s shares … Continue reading →

Posted in auto-enrolment, Bankers, Change, corporate governance, customer service, dc pensions, defined aspiration, FSA, happiness, Henry Tapper blog, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

More pensions nonsense from the “investment community”

Posted on April 18, 2012 by henry tapper

  How have have the people who invest pension funds become so out of touch with the people who retire from them? This question occurred to me several times yesterday as I listened to a large numbers of charming and intelligent people … Continue reading →

Posted in Bankers, Change, dc pensions, defined aspiration, Public sector pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Why we shouldn’t give up on pensions.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by henry tapper

Many people now see their company pension as a cause of concern not of comfort. Take this person who wrote to us last week… Prior to the meeting, I was a little apprehensive ,as I had an assorted portfolio of … Continue reading →

Posted in annuity, corporate governance, dc pensions, de-risking, pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Pension Corporation points the way to “ambitious pensions”

Posted on April 11, 2012 by henry tapper

A timely report arrived yesterday from the Pension Corporation estimating that the cost of replacing a standard DB benefit structure using DC had risen to 55% of salary. PIC’s business model is based on managing out DB plans on a … Continue reading →

Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, Jersey, pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

How to get the pension you’ve earned

Posted on March 7, 2012 by henry tapper

In response to some earlier blogs, Alan Higham has made this comment on a Pension Play Pen discussion thread. Alan regularly features in my thinking as does Andy Young (of the “Young report” below). Both are actuaries who have translated … Continue reading →

Posted in dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Who pays for a register of pensions?

Posted on March 6, 2012 by henry tapper

I’ve been writing this week about the small pension policies that most of us have “lying around” in some drawer or other. Maybe they came from well intentioned pension savings plans that just couldn’t be kept up, maybe from company DC schemes that … Continue reading →

Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, Management, Martin Lewis, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Retail Distribution Review, Retirement, social media, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 54 Comments

Whatever happened to “stakeholder economics”?

Posted on February 27, 2012 by henry tapper

When Blair swept to power in 1997, Will Hutton‘s vision of a stakeholder economy was central to New Labour‘s vision. While the idealism of those years is now derided, I prefer it to the negativity of today’s commentary. Listening to … Continue reading →

Posted in Bankers, corporate governance, Henry Tapper blog, Jersey, pension playpen, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Aspirational pensions – popcorn pensions!!

Posted on February 11, 2012 by henry tapper

There are going to be a lot of objections to aspirational pensions over the weeks and months to come, but for me they are popcorn pensions – delicious, affordable and while they may not be the haute cuisine of the guaranteed Final Salary plans pragmatic.

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Posted in annuity, auto-enrolment, dc pensions, de-risking, EU Solvency II, happiness, Henry Tapper blog, Management, pension playpen, pensions, Popcorn Pensions, Public sector pensions, Retirement, Treasury | Tagged , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Do we need guarantees on the pensions we get? Pension Play Pen lunch – Feb 6th

Posted on February 7, 2012 by henry tapper

There was a peculiar diversity of participants in this month’s pension lunch which led to an extraordinary debate and the closest of votes. Our lunch group split into three groups 1. Those who followed a broadly paternalistic line (Stav, Bill,Mike … Continue reading →

Posted in annuity, Bankers, cheltenham festival, corporate governance, pension playpen, Pension Rocks III, pensions, Retirement, social media, The Racket of the Lambs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment