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Tag Archives: Freedom
Freedom – at what cost?
Rousseau’s famous phrase “man is born free but everywhere is in chains”, will be to the front of many people’s minds today. The true liberal reaction to the pandemic is herd immunity and early blogs from the Covid actuaries explored … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Covid, Freedom, herd immunity, immunisation, Rousseau, vaccines
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“We want freedom and choice and we want simplification too”.
Pensions. Tax. Benefits. Each over-complex. When combined: lethal. We shouldn’t blame pension freedoms for the mistakes caused by governments’ habit of making everything too complicated. We want freedom and choice and we want simplification too. — Stuart Fowler (@fowlerdrew) February … Continue reading
Helping older people with money
I’m pleased to see the FCA publishing a paper on the particular problems older people have with financial services, I haven’t read it all , only the summary (which I can summarise as the paper does)! The summary rightly … Continue reading
Ombudsman 1 – Freedom 0
It would seem that Mr T (neither of the A-team or of this blog) has been sent packing by the Pensions Ombudsman. Mr T sued Standard Life’s staff pension trustees to max-up his CETV. He did so using an online … Continue reading
Brexit sets our pensions free!
We are where we are; Brexit is changing things. Brexit is a disruptor of old certainties and a bringer of new opportunities. The pensions and savings industry has grown fat on the old certainties but is now being confronted by populist … Continue reading
DRAWDOWN TAX; I’m as free as a bird (in a cage)
I’m as free as a bird can be when “freedom” is defined and confined by HMRC. “Me” as case study; I have a pension pot which wealth managers call “big” but can only supply me with an income of £15,000 … Continue reading
FAKE NEWS – eroding the credibility of pensions.
“Yesterday I ran a blog complaining not about fake news but about misinformation accompanying the news. MOMENTUM – hang your head in shame! The news Momentum has is that the vast majority of people over 55 still don’t know when … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged Financial wellness, Freedom, Income, momentum, pension, pension freedom, Placebo, Retirement, WASPI, Wealth
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“Brexit penalties” and the price of freedom.
What kind of a club charges you £59bn to leave it? If the EU was a pension plan, we’d be screaming about exit penalties. But I suspect we are talking up the cost to highlight the brilliant negotiating tactics of … Continue reading
Floundering in the dark – the PP DC Conference
De profundis It was a beautiful day and it was a great hotel. But I left the Professional Pensions Defined Contribution Conference profoundly depressed. Perhaps I needed lux in tenebris (see the progress that is being made elsewhere). The problems created … Continue reading
Posted in pensions
Tagged blockchain, CDC, dc, Defined Contribution, Freedom, IGC, Pension Freedoms, PP Conference
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Gain today- pain tomorrow; Ralph Frank on Freedom and Choice
There is a remarkable consistency across each of the policy measures being enacted under the ‘freedom and choice’ banner. The estimated impact of each measure on the Exchequer serves to accelerate the payment of income tax on the … Continue reading
