Wednesday 25 February 2015

Common Sense and Efficiency

The latest research from Alliance Bernstein carries no surprises. It says that the consumer expects a common sense approaches to investment- a feeling of control but without certainty of outcome. A combination of good governance and a sensible default fund is expected. But consumer common sense also says it’s okay to expect a spread of outcomes at retirement.

What is also expected though is flexibility and freedom at retirement. That’s fine and good if we know what we’re doing. The NAPF tell us in Pensions Expert that we don’t know what we’re doing because the Government has failed to give us the detail. With 30 working days to go before the pension freedoms, what the consumer doesn’t want is someone telling them that ‘yes, the freedoms exist’, but ‘no, you can’t benefit from them because we don’t know what to do.’

Will we get the detail in time? Or has election fever already affected output?

Common sense and efficiency from the Government would be welcome right now.

Friday 6 February 2015

A Vote For The Pensions Manager

Professional Pensions Magazine has started this year’s search for Pensions Personality of the Year. Was there ever a greater oxymoron? Pensions and personality. Not usually held in the same sentence. And yet…

When I started in pensions 38 years ago (first job Clerical, Medical & General Documentation Clerk- only staying for a short while to bring in some money. Not interested in pensions….), pensions really was a bit of a backwater. How times have changed.

Contracting out, Maxwell, the Goode Report, personal pensions, mis-selling, the Turner Commission, DC takeover, surplus and deficit, Auto-enrolment, pensions freedom…. And much more. Headlines in the Daily Mail and Daily Express on a regular basis. Scare stories mostly.  Much of it driven by an ageing population.

Nevertheless. A pensions personality? The well-known names tend to be self-publicists. I vote for the little known pensions manager working long hours for an employer that doesn’t understand and dealing with a government that can’t help but meddle.