Tag Archives: pensions

Is the mood music on DB transfers changing?

Posted on July 22, 2017 by

The irrational exuberance that characterised the FT’s pension transfer seminar in the spring may have marked a high-water mark in the rush to liberate. Martin Woolf and Merryn Somerset-Webb urged us to take our pension in our own hands (or … Continue reading →

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Austerity keeps life “nasty, brutish and short”.


      An actuary friend of mine writes to me If we adjust the State Pension Age ahead of time, then it depends on assumptions for future improvement – (as adjustments follow a formula). And right now as you know … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on July 21, 2017 by | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

@ShareActionUK – so much with so little!

Posted on July 16, 2017 by

    t At the beginning of last week I went to the Institute of Directors to see various “think-tanks” congratulate each other on their thinking- typically carried out in plush Mayfair offices at the expense of a Foundation set … Continue reading →

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A wage in retirement or freedom from pensions?

Posted on July 15, 2017 by

Yesterday I wrote about one aspect of the dispute between Royal Mail and its workers – the difference in opinion between the two sides on how postal workers are financially supported in retirement. It appears very simple; Royal Mail want to … Continue reading →

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Innovative pensions for the mass of us!

Posted on July 14, 2017 by

In its Retirement Outcome Review (interim report), the FCA were clear on  evidence of a problem The blame lies not with thick consumers but with lack of competition If competition is not working effectively and consumers make uninformed retirement income decisions this could lead to … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, auto-enrolment, DWP, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Freedoms;- the Treasury got us into this mess, can the FCA get us out?

Posted on July 12, 2017 by

  It is good that the FCA are looking at the introduction of Pension Freedoms through experience. Here’s what they’re finding. Over half – 52 per cent – of fully withdrawn pots were not spent but were moved into other savings … Continue reading →

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Social Housing? Pensions? Read this!

Posted on July 11, 2017 by

    This is from my main man, Neal Thompson. Neal is sh*t off a shovel when it comes to this stuff. Much the most knowledgeable fellow I’ve ever met on social housing and pensions. Devonshires are one of those … Continue reading →

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What passing bells for those who work as cattle?

Posted on July 11, 2017 by

Weep for the deprived gig-journalist! Unlike the formal press , I have not had an opportunity to leak the Taylor report.  I am like the workers that Matthew Taylor has been investigating, I have the freedom to do what I like … Continue reading →

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“Feed and skim” – how NEST want to help the low-paid save more.

Posted on July 6, 2017 by

Thanks to NEST and their think-tank NEST Insight for a scorching day on top of the National Theatre which yielded some real thought leadership. Delighted as I was to lock horns with some very bright students (and Tom McPhail) in … Continue reading →

Posted in NEST, pensions | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

“Not ducking the big decisions?”

Posted on July 5, 2017 by

The ABI conference “Free to Retire” sounds like a showboating convention for the great and the good, or at least for the new DWP Ministerial team.   We had been promised “big decisions” that wouldn’t be ducked by the new … Continue reading →

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