• PENSIONSANDSAVINGS.COM

    From Ros Altmann:economist and pensions,
    investment and retirement policy expert

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    Time for Ministers to intervene on Investment Trusts, as FCA has failed to achieve change

    Time for Ministers to intervene on Investment Trusts, as FCA has failed to achieve change

    Emergency intervention to protect UK investment trusts from flawed Regulations could turbocharge UK markets and growth while boosting investor returns.   Ministers must no longer leave it to the FCA to keep dithering and consulting while their misleading rules destroy investor support on a false premise.  UK-listed investment trusts help democratise investing for retail and institutional investors in long-term, less liquid assets such as infrastructure, growth businesses and renewable energy.  Ministers must no longer leave it to the FCA to keep…

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    Chancellor should use Autumn Statement to channel UK pension and ISA funds into domestic markets

    Chancellor should use Autumn Statement to channel UK pension and ISA funds into domestic markets

    The Chancellor should use the Autumn Statement to incentivise tax-favoured pension and ISA funds to back Britain.  British taxpayers are spending around £70 billion a year in tax and National Insurance reliefs but most is invested overseas instead of boosting British productivity and long-term growth. At least 25% of each pension fund originates from taxpayers – so Government has justification to ensure a minimum proportion of pension contributions supports our own markets. Introducing a Great British ISA for 2024, to…

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    Pension funds could do so much more to boost Britain – this Mansion House Compact is just the very start

    Pension funds could do so much more to boost Britain – this Mansion House Compact is just the very start

    Chancellor could and should be much more ambitious for pension funds to boost Britain. Mansion House Compact is welcome as far as it goes – but is just the tip of the iceberg. Just 5% of funds helping start-ups and scale-ups from Defined Contribution schemes by 2030 and perhaps another 5% of assets from Local Authority pension schemes, seems rather unambitious. At least 25% of each pension fund originated from taxpayer reliefs – with tax and National Insurance reliefs costing…

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    Work and Pensions Committee Report is right to focus on helping

    Work and Pensions Committee Report is right to focus on helping

    Work and Pensions Committee supports pension freedoms but urges Government, industry and Regulators to do far more to help consumers. Report suggests pension savers are left fumbling in the dark due to excessive complexity, disjointed regulation and insufficient guidance or advice. MPs rightly recommend that pension policy should be more about ‘people’ than ‘pension pots’.     Recommendations include: Government and Regulators need research and data on use of pension freedoms Increase take-up of PensionWise guidance – new nudges are not…

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    Why the £86,000 care cap does not ‘fix’ the care crisis and exacerbates inequalities

    Why the £86,000 care cap does not ‘fix’ the care crisis and exacerbates inequalities

    The £86,000 social care cap is more about protecting the wealthiest than fixing social care. £86,000 cap is not the maximum families will spend on care – they will have to spend well over £100,000 before reaching the cap. The new proposed cap will still take most of the assets from families in areas with lower property values, while helping the wealthiest families keep most of their assets.   The headline is that nobody will have to spend more than £86,000…

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    Ten ways in which the social care proposals, while welcome, fall short of what’s needed

    Ten ways in which the social care proposals, while welcome, fall short of what’s needed

    Government plans to reform social care are a start, but nowhere near enough to address the scale and scope of the crisis. Stark unfairnesses remain, with inadequate funding for urgently needed staffing improvements (£500million is just £300 per person). There is inadequate funding for prevention measures. The main part of the reforms will help protect the assets of the wealthiest families, not those living in areas with lower property values. With the Health and Social Care Bill coming over to…

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    State Pension Age hits 66 – isn’t it time to consider allowing early access for those who desperately need it?

    State Pension Age hits 66 – isn’t it time to consider allowing early access for those who desperately need it?

    As State Pension Age rises to 66 with economic meltdown boosting unemployment, there is a strong case to allow early access to State Pensions.  Many over-60s are unwell, genuinely unable to work, or are caring for others and have no private pension.  Healthy life expectancy across the country varies by around 20 years, so rising State Pension Age hits these least healthy hardest.  Those with long National Insurance records, poor health and no prospect of employment cannot receive any State Pension…

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    Britain sinking deeper into debt as more consumers buy on high-interest credit

    Britain sinking deeper into debt as more consumers buy on high-interest credit

    Ultra-low interest rates are not feeding through to individual consumers.   Since 2009, credit card lending now 40% higher and household non-mortgage debt up 52.6%.   Average adult pays nearly £1000 a year in interest as retailers increasingly use buy now, pay later. 40% of working age people have under £100 in savings and are vulnerable to any economic weakness. Should Regulators curb unsecured borrowing at high rates given indications that we may be repeating mistakes that caused the financial…

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    Capitalism is the best system, but has it been undermined by QE

    Capitalism is the best system, but has it been undermined by QE

    28 September 2017 Mrs. May is right – capitalism boosts growth and economic progress but she fails to recognise central banks have distorted capital markets with dangerous political consequences  Government bond markets are rigged in favour of the strong at expense of the weak as QE redistributes wealth away from the young and enriches the wealthiest groups  Central Bank policies have operated as disguised fiscal policy without democratic accountability  Socialism is not the answer – that would make everyone poorer…

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    Don’t just focus on the negatives of pension reform – but need FCA to reform advice

    Don’t just focus on the negatives of pension reform – but need FCA to reform advice

    26 March 2015 New Pension rules offer opportunities for better financial engagement FCA needs to authorise basic advice to help people make good decisions   Last week I participated in a really good breakfast discussion about the Pensions Revolution taking place in the UK, hosted by Investec Structured Products.  Pensions experts Robert Cochrane of Scottish Widow, Tom McPhail of Hargreaves Lansdown and myself were joined by ten leading personal finance and retirement journalists to discuss the pension changes starting on…

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