Tag Archives: Infrastructure

Christmas – subject to railways

Posted on December 4, 2023 by henry tapper

Christmas is the time when families get together . To do that, people have to travel and for most of us, the choice to do so is by car or by public transport. Yet more disruption due to broken industrial … Continue reading →

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Investing in illiquids requires better information

Posted on October 29, 2023 by henry tapper

  Conversations about illiquid investments have been continuing for some time. My interest in what has become a key element of Government thinking was sparked by this excellent conversation at a Hymans Robertson conference in January I’m impressed by a … Continue reading →

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Can pensions impact for good? They’ve no choice but to.

Posted on September 27, 2021 by henry tapper

Pension funds balk at No 10 appeal to fuel UK investment boom https://t.co/jTpJz8qNMU — Josephine Cumbo (@JosephineCumbo) September 27, 2021 Reading Jo Cumbo’s excellent article on the reaction of fund and pension scheme managers to Johnson and Sunak’s call for … Continue reading →

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The conversion of the Pension Plowman

Posted on October 10, 2020 by henry tapper

I had a bit of a ding-dong with Guy Opperman earlier in the year when I disagreed with him about getting illiquid investments into our workplace pension “Backing annuities – yes,  backing DB scheme pensions -yes, but shoe-horned into DC … Continue reading →

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

Who are the 200,000 people petitioning for the pensions dashboard?

Posted on August 30, 2018 by henry tapper

  It won’t be long till 38 degrees’ campaign to save the pensions dashboard hits its target of 200,00. Today, the campaign was given a boost by publicity in the Financial Times by the ever-excellent Jo Cumbo. The FT’s headline … Continue reading →

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The Financial Scientologists

Posted on July 20, 2018 by henry tapper

  Paul Lewis is absolutely right in attacking the dogmatism that religion creates. People may be spiritual, without imposing their views on others, but when someone’s dogma overtakes their sense of humanity, they become strangely inhuman. This is what accounts … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, Bankers, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

First Actuarial- proud to work for you!

Posted on September 30, 2017 by henry tapper

  I had a nice surprise over breakfast; whizzing through my emails I found that while I’ve gone on holiday, they’ve issued a FAB press release! 50:50 claim by PLSA is “dangerously misleading” says First Actuarial First Actuarial chastises the … Continue reading →

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Pensions Resurgent! The merit of the CWU’s proposals to the Royal Mail

Posted on March 16, 2017 by henry tapper

For the third day I am returning to the CWU’s proposals to the Royal Mail which I now consider the most important break through in pension scheme design we have seen in Britain this century. I base this on three … Continue reading →

Posted in actuaries, advice gap, David Pitt-Watson, dc pensions, defined ambition, defined aspiration, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We need a home ownership detox!

Posted on February 7, 2017 by henry tapper

An important day for British Housing Policy Today, the Government will publish its white paper setting out its long-term housing strategy. This has implications for everyone living in the UK, including the homeless, those who rent, those who own and … Continue reading →

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“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