Monthly Archives: March 2025
Get on the “Smith Express”
Samantha is a sharp journalist who worked flat out last week, I know, I watched her the few times I was in the press room. She also found time to collar Richard Smith and this is what she wrote in … Continue reading
The UK National Wealth Fund pensions are too scared to touch!
At the PLSA Conference , I asked a question of key trustees and investment decisions who were discussing whether risk should be taken into the investment strategies of their pension funds (DB and DC). The question arose in an … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Leave a comment
The value for money that comes from scale
One of the things I agree with Torsten Bell is that the value we get from the investment of our money is not measured by the cost of the management but by the returns we get from the management. Inevitably … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Leave a comment
If pension funds cannot take risk – who can?
Of course Ian Brown is right and Mary McDougall has done well to get this published by the FT. The feeble bleating of other journalists and of those still living in a paradigm of “de-risking” have not got the message. … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
4 Comments
Competition will not drive good funded pensions; that’s over.
Waking up to a new pensions world I am sorry to read arguments on social media and in Pension Age lamenting the loss of the competition we have today. The mess of GPPs, single employer DC schemes and the majority … Continue reading
Posted in advice gap, auto-enrolment, pension playpen, pensions
Tagged David Brooks, Pensions, Steve Webb
1 Comment
Pension contribution cuts from local councils: – MHCLG are not happy!
MHCLG to tighten rules on pension contribution cuts 14 March 2025 By Martin George An extraordinary story comes from Mr George who tells us that Government is to add to regulation and stop councils exercising their right to raise or drop … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Leave a comment
How do you make money as a freelance blogger?
A question I get asked surprisingly rarely are “how do you make money as a freelance journalist”. Infact I only ever get this question when I go to the PLSA conferences and that’s because the PLSA let me use their … Continue reading
Pensions for DC saving – Bell’s Bill avoids DB. (scrawled notes inc.)
Minister for Pensions Torsten Bell Speaks at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association Conference 2025 in Edinburgh. From: Department for Work and Pensions and Torsten Bell MP Location: EICC, Edinburgh Delivered on: 11 March 2025 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was … Continue reading
A “fluffy 2025”, not Bell’s or my reality
This is PLSA Investment Conference 2025. I have nothing against any of the three individuals and am actually very fond of Emma Douglas and Nausicaa Delfas. But I am not happy with the circumstances that brought these people together. The … Continue reading
A wonky perspective on a glorious PLSA event!
John Hamilton (with the camera) and me (a little worried) spent Tuesday through Thursday this week either at his flat, the Conference or eating out. This is the wonky perspective of a blogger who is very grateful for sponsoring me … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged CDC, DB pensions, dc pensions, Edinburgh, John Hamilton, PLSA, Torsten Bell
Leave a comment