24 April 2014 Is tax relief a good incentive for pension saving? A flat rate 30p or 50p top up is fairer but would add complexity and may not be effective Auto enrolment already offers £ for £ matching In recent days there has been significant focus on the issue of tax relief for pensions. Tax relief is meant to provide an incentive to encourage people to lock money away into pensions for their future. It costs huge sums – estimated…
17 April 2014 Government could set up a life expectancy calculator based on actuarial annuity models Any figure will only be an average – give people a range and regular updates as health changes And tell people how long they will live, not when they will die! Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, has proposed a novel way of helping people plan their retirement finances. He suggests providing people approaching retirement with information about when they can ‘expect to die’. This is supposed…
2 April 2014 Government announces its terms for buying extra state pension – Class 3A National Insurance This looks like a good deal – about half the cost of buying an equivalent annuity Designed for those who reach pension age before April 2016 Will help people who are not included in flat-rate state pension to boost their income The Government has just announced how much it will cost people to buy extra state pension rights under the proposed new ‘Class 3A’ National…
28 March 2014 Insurance industry under fire – what’s gone wrong? Insurers failed to realise who their customers were – relied on inertia Flawed profit models rewarded intermediaries then recouped costs from end-customers Now is the time for change – modernised, flexible products and services UK insurers have been under fire in the past few days and many must be reeling from the shock of it all. Suddenly the landscape seems to have changed. As an observer who has for so…
27 March 2014 Charges cap is important to protect smaller firms’ workers Will eventually need to control all charges, not just AMC Disappointing that NEST two-tier structure will continue to prevent easy comparison 0.75%pa charge cap on auto-enrolment default funds from April 2015 Banning penalty fees on leavers from April 2016 Banning commission payments from April 2016 As auto-enrolment spreads to smaller firms, their workers need protecting from high fees Pot follows member can’t work without a control on fees…
18 February 2014 DWP report on pension charges shows importance of introducing a cap Workers in small firms need protecting from rising charges as small funds pay higher fees Labour TER cap for new schemes makes sense but don’t set too low initially NEST reforms needed – and AMDs should be banned Summary DWP report on pension charges shows large schemes have lowest charges As auto-enrolment spreads to smaller firms, their workers need protecting from high fees Labour is right that…
24 January 2014 TPAS report shows pensions crisis is worse for women than men Women are second class citizens when it comes to pensions Women in their late 50s or older have lost out most in both state and private pensions Many women do not yet know their state pension age is rising – Government needs to inform women urgently about state pension changes Women lose out most in both state and private pensions: The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) Survey,…
22 January 2014 Pressure for pension reform really building up A great chance for consumers to get better value pensions Policymakers and the pensions industry need to wake up to the problems and act now Today, the Daily Mail’s Money Mail has begun a campaign for better and fairer pensions. The pressure on the pensions industry is building up as another national newspaper launches a manifesto for change that would ensure far better value for customers. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-2543615/5-radical-steps-stop-great-pensions-rip-off.html?ICO=most_read_module How long can…
17 January 2014 Steve Webb is right to delay introduction of charge cap – 2014 was too soon Cap new scheme charges to protect smaller firms’ workers but leave legacy schemes till after 2018 – and reform NEST charges to allow proper comparison Capping annuity charges is far more important anyway! Sensible decision to delay charge cap: It is good to see that Steve Webb has decided to delay introducing a cap on the charges paid by workers in auto-enrolment pension schemes. …
6 January 2014 Pensioner benefits – Don’t axe them, tax them Consider changing the age of entitlement, rather than means-testing Pensioner benefits becoming a political football: The furore over pensioner ‘benefits’ is hotting up. As the number of UK citizens reaching state pension age soars, the cost of paying National Insurance pensions was always bound to rise. There is a political backlash against pensioner payments, but it is important to consider this issue carefully. Rather than using pensions as a…