Tag Archives: corporate risk

Making sense of the Budget’s Pension Changes

Everyone knows that the changes in the taxation of pensions announced in the budget and now working their way into law – are going to make a big difference. But just how will they affect you and what can you … Continue reading

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How much should I spend on retirement?

People get frightened by this question – they shouldn’t! The simple answer is that we all pay into a national pension scheme through national insurance and you can find out what you’re likely to get from the State we completing … Continue reading

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Auto-enrolment – matching payrolls to pensions.

The big payroll/pension issue There are, according to one payroll software development we have spoken to, 42 separate interfaces between payroll and HR and the various workplace pension providers. Not all payrolls are prepared to build processes to accommodate each … Continue reading

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Two into one will go!

Steve Webb’s admission that we need a single regulator is a sign of his strength . It takes guts to admit you’ve been wrong for four and a half years! I’d come to the same conclusion myself reckoning;- That the geographic split between Brighton … Continue reading

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“Savers who cash in their pensions face charges of up to 20%”

  I repeat the Daily Mail’s headline which is absolutely accurate. I am glad that they did not use the word “penalties” as this implies a non-contractual lock-in being imposed by insurers. This is not what is happening. Insurers are … Continue reading

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What did you do in the war Daddy?

One of the most successful recruitment campaigns ever- focussed on this simple question. It asked young men to imagine themselves once the fighting stopped having to explain to those in their care the contribution they’d made to the war effort. … Continue reading

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Pension PlayPen respond to FCA on IGCs and DC Governance

This is less of a blog – more of an epic! If you want to have a go yourself, the link is to http://www.fca.org.uk/your-fca/documents/consultation-papers/cp14-16-response-form   The Pension PlayPen’s response was submitted online and this text is what we got back … Continue reading

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Is an annuity an investment product? Perhaps not!

  I have been worrying about a presentation I have to deliver to an investment group on the value of annuities. I have long felt that annuities are a rubbish investment and UK annuities a particularly rubbish investment. My confidence … Continue reading

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Does anybody care what you think?

  I bet you’ve sat in an exam hall , or been asked to complete a questionnaire or stared at the comments box below an article you’ve read and gone “nah-better not”. The rubric is that “your views matter”, but … Continue reading

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We knew we were cheating our clients.

  Mark Wood (now of JLT and formerly of the Prudential) is calling on insurers to relax the early exit penalties on pension contracts set up in the “bad old days” when commission was paid in advance for premiums paid … Continue reading

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