British Steel chaos ‘disproportionately’ blamed on advisers – PFS
Undue blame is being heaped on the advice sector during the BSPS saga, Personal Finance Society (PFS) chief executive Keith Richards has said, which could have wider implications for the defined...
View ArticleLloyds targets one million new clients in ‘pensions land grab’
Lloyds Banking Group wants to increase its financial planning and retirement open book of assets by more than £50bn by 2020 and add an additional one million new pension customers. The group, which...
View ArticleBob Champion: The danger of retirement income statistics
According to Disraeli, there are lies, damned lies, and statistics. I am of the generation that grew up watching Patrick McGoohan in the Prisoner screaming, “I am a name, not a number.” I, therefore,...
View ArticleMartin Jones: Untangling the SIPP investment due diligence knot
I recently heard someone talking about a ‘Gordian knot’. This is an expression that comes from a legend about Alexander the Great. An oracle had declared that any man who could untangle a particular...
View ArticleRP case studies: Why expression of wish forms are crucial
Death benefits are a contentious and tricky area. In the event of death, the full value of a pension fund can be used to provide lump sum and/or pension benefits to a spouse, civil partner or other...
View ArticleFiona Tait: Why prevention is better than cure
There has been no shortage of suggestions in recent months about what the government should do to protect pension scheme members, particularly in the wake of the high profile collapses of British Steel...
View ArticleMartin Tilley: Treading the fine line of SIPP due diligence
The trade press recently reported widely that three, now defunct, self-invested personal pension (SIPP) operators had been declared in default by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The...
View ArticleRP case studies: Why using pensions to buy commercial property works
The famous Mark Twain quote “buy land, they’re not making it anymore” is a sentiment that still drives many an investor. And so is the desire to invest in something tangible, say bricks and mortar. I...
View ArticleThousands at risk of passing pension benefits to ex-partners, research
Three-quarters of a million people coming up to retirement are at risk of their pension being passed on to an ex-partner when they die, according to research by Royal London. The insurer estimated some...
View ArticleAdvisers reveal biggest tax year end challenges
Financial advisers struggle most with lack of time to complete various tasks as the tax year draws to a close, according to research by Old Mutual Wealth. The provider polled more than 470 advisers and...
View ArticleAdrian Boulding: Building a vision for the pensions dashboard
Ahead of the publication of the DWP’s own dashboard feasibility study later this month, Adrian Boulding sizes up the potential roles of the pensions dashboard and what it could deliver in the future...
View ArticleMembers’ biggest pension regret is ‘not saving early enough’– survey
More than half of workers say their greatest pension saving regret is not starting early enough or taking a break from saving, according to Aegon research. Meanwhile, 14% of workers said their biggest...
View ArticleGareth James: Making sure death benefits aren’t overly taxing
A significant amount has been written on the changes to the taxation of death benefits since major changes were introduced from April 2015. This is hardly surprising given the changes created a raft of...
View ArticleMalcolm McLean: Is a single pensions regulator on the horizon?
No-one should really be surprised at the news that The Pensions Advisory Service’s (TPAS) dispute resolution function is moving to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO). The move includes the transfer of the...
View ArticleGuy Opperman: DB pension system ‘working’ despite high profile failures
Defined benefit (DB) schemes and the protection system in place for members are working despite recent high profile failures such as Carillion, according to the pensions and financial inclusion...
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William Burrows: Do new annuity comparison rules work for clients?
From 1 March 2018, every firm issuing guaranteed annuity quotes must comply with new rules set out in the Financial Conduct Authority’s policy statement PS17/12. In simple terms, firms will need to...
View ArticleLawyers not working with IFAs despite growing market demand
Although the majority of lawyers fear their property finance knowledge is out of date, more than a third have failed to partner with advice firms to help solve the problem, according to research by...
View Article‘Stagnating’ life expectancy will not halt state pension age hikes
Figures showing life expectancy improvement rates have significantly slowed are unlikely to prompt the government to rethink planned state pension age hikes, AJ Bell has said. Data from the Continuous...
View ArticlePension cold-calling ban to be in place ‘by June’
A ban on pension cold-calling will be put into law by June this year after the government introduced amendments to the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill. The Bill, due to reach the House of Commons...
View ArticleTotal pension liabilities ‘rise by £1trn’ in five years
Total UK pension liabilities rose to £7.6trn in the five year period from 2010 to 2015, according to latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). When the ONS last measured total pension...
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