Tag Archives: Deficit

FAB index continues to climb (and has some good news for Tata Steel!) #FABI

Posted on April 24, 2017 by henry tapper

First Actuarial’s Best estimate (FAB) Index improved again in March showing a surplus of £294bn across the 6,000 UK defined benefit schemes. This continues to buck the trend with the PPF 7800 index falling for the third month in a … Continue reading →

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

Narrowing the range of thought…

Posted on February 11, 2017 by henry tapper

I get back from a few days in the North East to this headline in Corporate Adviser First Actuarial versus the world: DB’s glass half full or half empty? (you can read the article on the link at the bottom) … Continue reading →

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

Plugging phoney deficits does no good!

Posted on January 14, 2017 by henry tapper

We have become fixated with phoney pension deficits, now a British pension consultancy is suggesting we can plug phoney deficits with real money, the dividends that support “other people’s pensions. This is what we think of the phoney deficits. Our … Continue reading →

Posted in accountants, actuaries, pensions | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

FABI says “no no” to the deficit yo-yo!

Posted on January 12, 2017 by henry tapper

The First Actuarial Best-estimate Index (FABI) continues on a more predictable flight. An actuary speaks! Rob Hammond, who oversees the number crunching behind FABI says: “Yo-yo deficits do nothing to restore people’s confidence in their pensions. FABI paints a truer … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

FABI – taking the crisis out of pensions!

Posted on January 4, 2017 by henry tapper

It is now three months since we launched our First Actuarial Best estimate Index (or FAB Index for short). It has generated a significant amount of interest amongst our clients and across the wider pensions industry – and has even … Continue reading →

Posted in First Actuarial, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Christmas present for UK pension plc

Posted on December 15, 2016 by henry tapper

The Pension Protection fund published its monthly update on Tuesday. The news slipped out quietly (as good news generally does). The aggregate deficit of the 5,794 schemes in the PPF 7800 Index is estimated to have decreased over the month to … Continue reading →

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

“Breaking ranks” with a pernicious orthodoxy.

Posted on December 12, 2016 by henry tapper

  In a significant interview with the FT, Michael Higgins, former chair of the Pension Regulator and chair of a £12bn pension trust argues that valuing pension liabilities using the gilt yield is leading to a …. “significant misallocation of resources — … Continue reading →

Posted in accountants, Bankers, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The risk in “de risking”

Posted on November 13, 2016 by henry tapper

Defined benefit pensions are delicate mechanisms designed for the purpose of providing pensions for generations of employees. Decisions taken in the last twenty years first to close DB schemes to new entrants, then to future accrual to current members and … Continue reading →

Posted in accountants, advice gap, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

“It’s not what you’re saying, it’s what we’re hearing”. DB needs clearer messaging.

Posted on November 3, 2016 by henry tapper

I hate falling out with old friends so I wasn’t happy when Raj Mody phoned me and told me that I’d pissed him off. Well he put it more mildly than that but when an actuary says he’s disappointed, you … Continue reading →

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

Pension deficits down/up- last month/yesterday -WHATEVER!

Posted on November 1, 2016 by henry tapper

PWC have published their monthly survey of the state of British pension funds. It shows that pension fund deficits have fallen markedly, not because lots of pensioners have died, or because the stock market went through the roof, but because … Continue reading →

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