Most retirees simply do not understand the need to shop around for the best annuity, says editor Stephanie Hawthorne.
Could annuity misselling be the next financial scandal? Already, one fifth of all trust based defined contribution (DC) members are over 50. Additionally, with the arrival of auto-enrolment, millions will be faced with the prospect of buying an annuity for the first time.
Customers have just one...
The new NAPF chairman, Mark Hyde Harrison, looks ahead
Since I became chairman of the National Association of Pensions Funds (NAPF) in late October, pensions have never been out of the news: whether it be the proposed amendments to public sector pensions and the consequent industrial action, the impact of the continuing economic crisis on scheme...
DC is flawed and needs a radical overhaul if the 2012 pension reforms are to succeed, says editor Stephanie Hawthorne
The number of people paying into an occupational pension has fallen to its lowest level since 1956. Indeed, only 3m people were saving into a private sector occupational pension scheme in 2010 according to latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) research. Yet 40 years ago when Pensions World...
Lindsay Tomlinson, NAPF chairman, signs off with a review of the pensions scene over the past two years and what the future holds
Two years ago, in my first Pensions World article, I set out my thoughts as incoming NAPF chairman. In this, my final article, I am going to review my predictions and speculate on future developments. My position changes both because of the onward march of events and because, as outgoing NAPF...
The 2012 pension reforms may still leave the UK a nation of pauper pensioners, says editor, Stephanie Hawthorne
It is one year to the start of the biggest pension reforms since the introduction of the Old Age Pension in 1908. For the first time, in a phased process beginning in October 2012, every UK employer, even of a nanny, will have to auto-enrol their staff into a qualifying pension scheme.
The...
We are all in it together. Every one of us is dependent on the performance of the global economy,
says Lindsay Tomlinson, NAPF chairman
You cannot eat a share certificate, so even those who are counting on pension promises backed by invested assets are living at the mercy of economic performance.
In the UK, we always over-complicate things. This undue complexity is a natural consequence of a desire for fairness and for the...
The huge cost of funding long term care threatens a crisis even greater than the pensions shortfall, says editor Stephanie Hawthorne
In 1901 you could barely fill a football ground with the population of over-85s – there were just 61,000. In 2011 there are 1.5m and in 20 years there will be 2.5m. Yet, such is the disturbing quality of some social care for the elderly and the lack of funds to support it, extreme old age...
Lindsay Tomlinson, NAPF chairman, explains why UK schemes should start to worry about the impending arrival of Solvency II
If you are running a UK pension scheme, should you worry about Solvency II? The answer depends on your time horizon: short term, maybe; medium term, probably; long term definitely.
It is the largest ever change to European insurance solvency regulations. Those involved in pensions may smile...
Compelling people to save is the only answer to the pensions crisis, says editor, Stephanie Hawthorne
The UK retirement savings deficit is a staggering £9 trillion according to a recent Chartered Insurance Institute report.
However, major reforms are under way with the arrival of auto-enrolment and Nest in 2012. Will these be enough to solve the looming pensions crisis? They are a start,...
The good news is that finally we may be getting long term policies to sort out the chaotic UK pension system says Lindsay Tomlinson, NAPF chairman
It is widely agreed that the current pension landscape in the UK is a mess. We have an inadequate basic state pension and a ferociously complicated state pension and benefit system. On top of that is a private pension system in a state of complete flux. Operating in parallel to that private...
As people begin to retire in their millions with DC pensions, is the battle of the sexes a mere sideshow? asks editor Stephanie Hawthorne
The battle of the sexes rages on. Young female drivers suffer punitive insurance rates despite their generally safer records, while their grandmothers receive higher pensions despite living longer as the result of the European Court of Justice unisex insurance pricing ruling on 1 March. It has...
Promoting high quality and secure workplace pensions is surely the right thing to do for future generations urges Lindsay Tomlinson, NAPF chairman
UK workplace pensions are now clearly in a state of transition. If current trends persist, pension provision for future generations of workers will be via defined contribution (DC) arrangements. And in his outgoing speech as chairman of the Pensions Regulator, David Norgrove acknowledged that...
Smaller firms are the weakest link in pensions. How can we strengthen provision? asks editor Stephanie Hawthorne
Only a third of smaller firms – those with 250 or fewer employees – provide any kind of pension scheme, according to the Association of Consulting Actuaries’ (ACA’s) latest survey. Even where there is a pension scheme, on average 40% of employees choose not to join. This...
Lindsay Tomlinson, NAPF chairman, on the necessity for pension schemes to maintain a wide focus when it comes to investment
Pension schemes are genuine long term investors. Their time horizons stretch out for decades and can go out to 50 years and more.
But one of the concerns expressed by politicians following the financial crisis is that investors take a short term view. That, rather than taking the long view,...
The success of the 2012 reforms will depend on the government’s ability to deliver a £140 week state pension, says editor Stephanie Hawthorne
In theory 2012 will see the biggest pension reforms since the introduction of the old age pension in 1908 with every employer in the land eventually compelled to contribute 3% of salary in a phased introduction to their employees’ pension. So how will the idea work in practice?
All...
Lindsay Tomlinson, NAPF chairman, looks at the issue of investment from a pension scheme perspective
Expect to hear a lot more about short termism in the short to medium term. Corporations and policymakers think that investors take short term views and that this damages longer term economic development. What an irony it is that pension schemes are accused of short term thinking. We are the...
Abandon Nest, says editor Stephanie Hawthorne
Alarmingly, buying an adequate pension costs more than buying a typical house. The average price of a UK home costs around £225,000, but this would only buy a 65 year old male a pension of just over £13,000 – scarcely enough to live in comfort.
Anyone retiring shortly will...
Too many DB schemes are floundering without a deregulatory lifeboat while DC investors fear to venture into the waves says editor Stephanie Hawthorne
I shall begin with the good news: in my April editorial when the FTSE 100 was languishing at around 3,500, I agreed with Steve Rumbles, head of UK defined contribution (DC) at BlackRock. He said: “Fortune favours the brave especially in the long term. Despite market turbulence, now is the...
Lindsay Tomlinson, in his first column as NAPF chairman, speculates on what the future might hold for pensions provision
The next couple of years are going to be absolutely crucial for the way in which pension provision develops in the UK. The current pensions model is clearly unsustainable. After the general election, the incoming government will take decisions, consciously or unconsciously, which will shape the...
Pension problems are mounting. Editor Stephanie Hawthorne sets the priorities for the next government
Within six months there will be a general election. Sandwiched between the enormous national debt of £100bn and high unemployment, the pensions plight of millions will struggle to get the attention of whichever government is in power, but a new Secretary of State for Work and Pensions will...
