Tag Archives: Financial services
“TEEN-AGE kicks” – incentivising sensible spending in retirement
“A teenage dream’s so hard to beat.. Just say those words and I’m thinking 1978, radio under the pillow – John Peel show – 11pm. But I could relive the TEEN- AGE kicks in a few years time, if that … Continue reading
There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about……Guest blog by Ralph Frank
The pensions freedoms announced in the 2014 Budget are claimed to have made defined contribution (“DC”) pensions more effective in helping people retire. This view is set out in the 2015 CBI/Mercer Pensions Survey, ‘A view from the top’. The … Continue reading
Should the FCA oversee mastertrusts?
That was the question that was asked by one of the panellists at the launch of the PPI’s “Comparison of the regulatory frameworks for DC pensions. I am listed as one of the people providing input to the production of … Continue reading
PLSA to be of help?
Yesterday , the good egg that is Jonathan Stapleton forwarded me the PLSA’s press release announcing their initiative to help small business’ understand workplace pensions. The Pitch is straightforward “The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association knows pensions inside out … Continue reading
If not CDC – what?
CDC – flawed in conception Steve Webb told me that when he spoke with Andrew Young, the former Government Actuary for the DWP, Andrew advised him to “think big”. Steve did and he will be remembered not just for the … Continue reading
#APPC15 Why Payroll needs to manage Pensions.
This is an edited version of the keynote speech I delivered to the CIPP conference this morning (October 7th 2015). I blog as the Pension Plowman, and my blog is called the vision of the Pension Plowman. You might think … Continue reading
State Street and People’s – a lack of “emissional” intelligence?
I am not very happy that People’s Pension has chosen State Street to manage the money under its master trust. In early 2014, State Street were found guilty of over-charging a variety of pension funds and were fined by the … Continue reading
“Low earners miss out on £85m pension tax relief” – and why!?
“Millions of part-time workers are being denied valuable tax-breaks on their pension contributions as government officials knowingly all low them to save into schemes that will not pay them relief they are entitled” So thundered the FT (26/09/15) and it’s … Continue reading
GenLife to Smart – a case study in prudent planning
Friendly Pensions and its successor GenLife have now become Smart Pension and the outlook for its 10,000 members has been substantially improved. While GenLife was not insolvent, it decided the best way to achieve its targets was to obtain scale … Continue reading
“There’s opportunity in complexity”
This, believe it or not, is the new strap-line for State Street Global Adviser’s push into the UK DC market with their target dated funds which are – it seems – reassuringly complex. To boot There are two ways of … Continue reading