Tag Archives: London

How to get the pension you’ve earned

In response to some earlier blogs, Alan Higham has made this comment on a Pension Play Pen discussion thread. Alan regularly features in my thinking as does Andy Young (of the “Young report” below). Both are actuaries who have translated … Continue reading

Posted in dc pensions, de-risking, defined aspiration, Retirement | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Do we need guarantees on the pensions we get? Pension Play Pen lunch – Feb 6th

There was a peculiar diversity of participants in this month’s pension lunch which led to an extraordinary debate and the closest of votes. Our lunch group split into three groups 1. Those who followed a broadly paternalistic line (Stav, Bill,Mike … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, Bankers, cheltenham festival, corporate governance, pension playpen, Pension Rocks III, pensions, Retirement, social media, The Racket of the Lambs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

10 infrastucture opportunities pension funds cannot ignore!

The Government has announced that it wants UK pension funds to invest in UK infrastructure. This week we saw a slice of Thames Water purchased by the Chinese. I live on the Thames and as dawn rises this morning I’m on “Junk Alert” on “the partially yellow river”. Continue reading

Posted in annuity, Bankers, Church of England, corporate governance, dc pensions, de-risking, religion, Retirement, social media, Treasury, Twickenham, twitter | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What is better than sport?- nothing (apart from one thing)

Five a side Rockets v the Incredibles. Rockets move to within three points in the Rocks Lane 5 a side league *U14* after a fab 9-4 win, Fleetwood 2 v Yeovil Town 2. YTFC give a way a 2-0 lead in … Continue reading

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From Venice with love

Sitting in front of Tintoretto’s Crucifixion, a massive canvas that examines the nature of suffering , I tried to connect his noble vision with the suffering of Europe‘s latest basket case- Italy. Nothing doing. If the Venetians are any touchstone of … Continue reading

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Can no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?

The running gag is that the Church of England’s the Tory Party at prayer and if there’d been a Tory party in 1170 I reckon they’d regard Giles Fraser and Thomas Beckett as peas from the same pod. My Sunday … Continue reading

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Ich am of Irlaunde

We arrived in Dublin in monsoon conditions. A county’s economy under water – within expectations, a country underwater…? Continue reading

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24 cheers for The Pension Play Pen Lunch

There’s a fine tradition in this country of people getting together in coffee houses and taverns and sorting out how and with whom business should be transacted. This was how the insurance market was founded in London and it still is how … Continue reading

Posted in annuity, corporate governance, Facebook, mallowstreet, NEST, pension playpen, pensions, social media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Nuts traced as market collapses – @ #ppshow

£64bn fell off the shares of the London stock market today. Meanwhile we were holed up in the Excel Centre, listening to the views of the great and the good.. Here are my good buddies Colin Wilson and David Harris. It … Continue reading

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“I just want to show the rich I can do what I want”

If that girl in Croydon and the thousands of disaffected rioters have done anything positive for me – they’ve got me thinking just how big the gap between me and them is. Perhaps I don’t feel quite as comfortable as I did a week ago.

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Posted in Nick Clegg, social media | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments