Tag Archives: pensions

We are not saving enough – official.

Posted on April 24, 2019 by

  What this chart from the FT shows is that UK Companies and Households are spending more than they are saving. They join our Government in this. We are not like the rest of the world that saves more than … Continue reading →

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What should you say to your staff about pensions next week?

Posted on April 20, 2019 by

Next  week most staff will see for the first time the impact of their increased pension contributions on their pay. They may ask you, if you are the boss or run payroll or pensions or work in HR, what this … Continue reading →

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Transparency bites the fund industry

Posted on April 19, 2019 by

From top to bottom of  financial intermediation cost disclosure is causing problems. UBS and Goldman Sachs have been fined eye-watering sums for failure to provide the right information for others to disclose to their clients. They are not alone. Those … Continue reading →

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Can CDC offer private school pensions?

Posted on April 15, 2019 by

The Department of Education has a cunning plan. Put money behind pensions for teachers in state education and ransome private schools and colleges of higher education for higher pension costs. The policy is justified as an end to a tax-payer … Continue reading →

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Are IGCs and Trustees worth it?

Posted on April 14, 2019 by

      The best test of the value of an IGC or an occupational trust board is to imagine how things would work without one. Before 2015, insurers ran workplace pensions for multiple employers using the bald trust of … Continue reading →

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Could pensions yet break state education?

Posted on April 13, 2019 by

The Teachers’ Pension Scheme is one of only eight guaranteed by the Government; provides additional benefits linked to salary; is inflation-proof to offer teachers a secure retirement; and offers the typical teacher around £7,000 in employer contributions every year. This … Continue reading →

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From zero to hero – the Hargreaves Lansdown IGC report

Posted on April 12, 2019 by

Hargreaves Lansdown’s (HL) 2015 -16 IGC report was embarrassingly bad. I got cross that a successful funds platform didn’t put its back into independent governance. Hargreaves’ Vantage product (now HL Workplace Pension)  was at the time being widely promoted as … Continue reading →

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ReAssuring us through its IGC?

Posted on April 12, 2019 by

A word on padding The first thing you notice about the ReAssure IGC report is stock images. Page one and two are entirely devoted to them, page three and four have one, page five has five and page six is … Continue reading →

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Virgin Money’s stakeholder is in special measures – put the IGC in charge.

Posted on April 12, 2019 by

Sid Vicious didn’t last long at Virgin when the Sex Pistols flirted with the record label. His relationship was as stormy as the Virgin Money’s IGC is with Virgin Money. Things are vicious once again , even if the Pistols … Continue reading →

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The Government’s pension stealth tax

Posted on April 11, 2019 by

What are we to make of the disenfranchisement of Stagecoach from rail contracts? I am extremely concerned by this statement , reported in the Financial Times  Stagecoach said its recent bids had been non-compliant “principally in respect of pensions risk”. … Continue reading →

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