Tag Archives: Steve Webb

The FCA gets serious on pension outcomes

The FCA has published its 2015 business plan http://fca.org.uk/static/channel-page/business-plan/business-plan-2015-16.html Part of the plan is to award itself a £35m increase in budget, meaning it expects to spend £482m of our money – making sure our money is well managed. Whether this … Continue reading

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Magic beans and “negative capability”

Negative capability describes the capacity of human beings to transcend and revise their contexts. If we dismiss it as “magic beans” we are committed to repeating the mistakes of the past – and- as we all know – that way is madness. Continue reading

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We need a tank to get us across this battlefield!

We must dispel myths we have created and allow to malinger to the detriment of CDC and our pension system. Continue reading

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The Treasury – the office of pension irresponsibility

The Treasury should be renamed the office of pension irresponsibility. It wants to milk pensions as the “new banks” and is acting as the political wing of the housing market. It talks fiscal prudence while pushing the bribes of March. For … Continue reading

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5 good reasons we need a secondary annuity market

I returned from a long walk this morning to a barrage of negativity on twitter. The outrage of the pensions twitterati was reserved for the Government’s pre-budget leak that people will be able to buy and sell annuities as if … Continue reading

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It’s all about Steve Webb – stupid!

Pensions Question Time at the PPI Last night the Pension Policy Institute held a meeting to discuss the impact of next week’s budget on pensions. Expertly chaired by Paul Lewis, it turned out to be a meeting demonstrating the paucity … Continue reading

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An escape plan for pensioners or pension schemes?

Collectively we are short on immortality Continue reading

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Will pension freedoms be the death of Defined Benefit?

  I thought it was the last supper (or at least the last pension playpen lunch). We had twelve men around the table (no women) and there was sombre expectation as we considered the impact small changes in tax legislation … Continue reading

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When will we ever learn?

  There are no short-cuts in pensions, there are no silver bullets, easy answers, no lottery wins, no free alpha. There’s just a lot of hard saving backed up by good governance , cost control and sound investment strategy. Pete Seeger, … Continue reading

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A code of good practice for transfer advice?

  We are rubbish at financial risk and we know it. We take decisions on financial matters with as much confidence as betting on the horses and if our horse falls at the first we blame everyone but ourselves! Small wonder that … Continue reading

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