Tag Archives: VFM

How GDPR helps us make sense of pensions!

Posted on October 13, 2018 by

Adrian Boulding has written an excellent article about the new cost and charges disclosures. I will quote only the conclusion and urge you read the rest of it here. Can we hope to obtain full investment charges data onto a … Continue reading →

Posted in age wage, pensions | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Are you the Trustee Chair of a DC pension scheme?

Posted on August 22, 2018 by

  Facing up to your new duties? If so, you’ll be aware that the DWP have been writing you rules (and the Pensions Regulator enforcing them). Since 2016 you have written an annual chair statement and you will now have to … Continue reading →

Posted in pensions | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

“Smiling at delinquents”; how we prevail over fund ignorance and indolence

Posted on August 22, 2018 by

I had one of those moments just now, when a whole load of things came together and I saw the wood for the trees. My Eureka moment? I was reading an FCA document , the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, pensions, Pensions Regulator | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Do IGC’s improve our value for money?

Posted on August 9, 2018 by

This is the 7th and penultimate blog , addressing the Work & Pensions Select Committee’s questions on pension transparency. This time the exam question is Are Independent Governance Committees effective in driving value for money? My short answer is that … Continue reading →

Posted in pensions, WPC | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Higher costs – lower pay-outs? Fact or fiction.

Posted on August 6, 2018 by

This is the first of seven blogs I will write, that will by September 3rd, form my submission to the Work and Pension Select Committee’s inquiry into pension transparency. Today’s exam question is; Do higher-cost providers deliver higher performance, or simply … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, age wage, pensions, WPC | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

We don’t just need a dashboard – we need a steering wheel!

Posted on July 13, 2018 by

Like everyone else, I think a dashboard to see my pension pots in a single place is a great idea. But building a dashboard is only a part of it. You can’t steer your car with a dashboard. 21st century … Continue reading →

Posted in age wage, pensions | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

“Reductio ad absurdum” or a financial “must have”?

Posted on June 14, 2018 by

Today is a big day for funds disclosure in the UK. It is the day hands to the FCA, the template created by the Institutional Disclosure Working Group. This template  will facilitate the collection of data on the costs and charges … Continue reading →

Posted in advice gap, pensions | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Who owns “value for money”?

Posted on May 15, 2018 by

  News from the stalwart Bob Ward that the FCA has dropped the term “value for money” came as a bombshell to participants in yesterday’s Pension Play Pen lunch. Since it’s about the only term left in the financial services … Continue reading →

Posted in auto-enrolment, pensions | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Is there a “true and fair” way to value advice?

Posted on May 13, 2018 by

  Yesterday , I wrote a blog about “ownership” and how we cede ownership of our retirement savings – often to ill-effect. You can read that blog here. This follows up on that thinking and looks at a specific issue … Continue reading →

Posted in pensions | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

How do I rate my various pensions?

Posted on February 27, 2018 by

Following the publication of yesterday’s Guidance from the DWP on “DC pension” disclosures, this article asks “have we any framework for answering the question in the title?”. The conclusion is “not yet”, thought the disclosure guidance takes us another step … Continue reading →

Posted in auto-enrolment, pension playpen, pensions, Sage | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment