Tag Archives: Government

Falling out of love with the market.

Posted on May 21, 2017 by

  The most startling thing about the conservative manifesto is that it advocates Government intervention as a way of improving those just about managing in Britain. This is a very different approach to that of previous Governments that relied on competition within markets. From labour markets, through energy, telecoms and pharma to financial services, the […]

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Falling out of love with the market.

Posted on May 21, 2017 by

  The most startling thing about the conservative manifesto is that it advocates Government intervention as a way of improving those just about managing in Britain. This is a very different approach to that of previous Governments that relied on … Continue reading →

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A pensions dashboard brings its own risk.

Posted on April 16, 2017 by

A need for pension I am keen not to pour cold water on the pensions dashboard, but I am not having it promoted as the game-changer to savings behaviour. The pensions dashboard is what Martin Clarke, the Government Actuary, refers to … Continue reading →

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Can the Government nudge us to be proud to rent? #housingwhitepaper

Posted on February 8, 2017 by

Within an hour of the document’s publication, Paul Lewis had delivered his verdict and people were keen to endorse it. I was not one of them. The UK housing market is too big a ship to be turned round by … Continue reading →

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Is pressure building on financial services?

Posted on January 31, 2017 by

One test of populism will be the extent to which “populist” Governments take on the cost of saving and investing. We are used to “bank bashing”, they were the justifiable targets of public wrath for the savings and loans crisis, … Continue reading →

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Myopia and the alternative fact

Posted on January 25, 2017 by

Not all prejudice is ill-intentioned, I know the author of this comment on a recent blog. He is not ill-intentioned – just short-sighted. There is no one interested to have defined benefit pensions in the UK. They are seem as … Continue reading →

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“Nothing” is very much wrong with defined benefit pension schemes.

Posted on November 18, 2016 by

This week I was asked this question by a civil servant (not directly involved with pensions). Ignorant question: What in regulation or law would prevent a DB pension scheme being valued based on the actual assets as opposed to the … Continue reading →

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

Respect for the self-employed

Posted on November 6, 2016 by

It’s a truth as old as the hills that there are two types of self-employed. Those who choose to be and those who have no choice. Most people who read this blog have more experience with the “professional” classes who … Continue reading →

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Drawing Breath – how hard should Government nudge pension conts?

Posted on October 4, 2016 by

  The auto-enrolment timeline is now halfway through staging – as the PPI’s FutureBook2 tells us. while coverage from workplace pensions is spreading, it is also thinning. Average contributions are lower than ever before and there are two worries; That … Continue reading →

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Is Yahoo insured?

Posted on September 23, 2016 by

  As I listened to the accounts of Yahoo’s 500m users being hacked (purportedly by a foreign government), four questions came to mind Why hasn’t the Yahoo share price fallen more than a couple of percent? Did Verizen, it’s prospective purchaser … Continue reading →

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