Insights
Solving the self-employment pensions conundrum
The Pension Commission has been reformed to address pension inadequacy. While there are significant concerns over employees not having a large...
Will the Pensions Commission solve inadequacy?
Last week the government announced The Pensions Commission will be reformed to focus on solving pensions adequacy. At the Pensions and Lifetimes...
Would Labour’s wealth fund be a good idea?
After the torpor of Tory government, Labour has hit the road running. Yesterday Rachel Reeves said she would be pursuing plans to build a UK wealth...
ASSET MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES
Asset managers have faced a challenging decade. Read this series to learn how the business environment has changed over the last 10 years and continues to shift. The final blog posts will look to future and ask what the sector can do to grow profits and cash flow.
The age of collaboration
The era of the transaction is dead! Long live the age of collaboration! That might seem a strange sentiment to express in a...
Value for money
While UK defined benefit pensions have experienced rapid change in recent years, in the world of defined contribution political...
The buyout bonanza
The rapid improvement in defined benefit pension scheme funding levels over the space of last year is extraordinary. According...
The great unwind
In recent years, institutional investors had to adopt the philosophy of the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland and believe six...
War and maverick politicians
In 2022 the headwinds facing asset managers reliant on the UK’s £3trn occupational pension schemes became even more extreme. The...
A tough ten years
It has been a Darwinian decade for asset managers with some parts of the industry eating the lunch of others. Companies have...
SUSTAINABLE INVESTING
Confused about sustainable investing? Then read this series that helps to demystify the jargon and talk about the nitty-gritty of what’s involved. Start with the “What is sustainable investment” post and then read the ones above.
Will greenwashing kill ESG?
“The term ESG is less than two decades old, but it may already be coming to the end of its useful life.” That's the opening...
Impact investing and you – part two
If we want to include impact investing in all occupational pension schemes then we need to consider how we do this not only for...
Impact investing and you
Sustainable investing is following a well-trodden path. As a new investment trend gains popularity, it becomes more...
Making all private sector pensions sustainable
While the majority of the working population pays into an auto-enrolled defined contribution pot, the bulk of the UK’s current...
The fossil fuel challenge
There is a potential storm brewing between scheme members and pension providers over investing in fossil fuel companies. Six out...
The sustainability cost conundrum
Employees are increasingly aware their pension pots can be used to help to protect the planet and improve society. That’s a...
UK PENSIONS LANDSCAPE
This series of blog posts explains how pensions policy has evolved in the UK since the second World War. It explains the different pension systems available including state as well as occupational pensions for the private and public sector. If you have ever been curious about why your parent received a final salary pension but you will not this is the series for you! It’s best read in chronological order.
Unfunded public sector schemes
In this final post examining the current pension landscape in the UK, we turn our attention to pension schemes for public servants such as teachers,...
Public sector pensions: the local government pension scheme
This series of blog posts has explained how pensions have evolved in the UK for those working in the private sector. Now it’s time to turn our...
Auto-enrolling the private sector
In the last couple of posts I explained how the Labour government responded to the decline in the number of active members of private section...
UK PENSIONS CHALLENGES
This series of blog posts explains how pensions policy has evolved in the UK since the second World War. It explains the different pension systems available including state as well as occupational pensions for the private and public sector. If you have ever been curious about why your parent received a final salary pension but you will not this is the series for you! It’s best read in chronological order.
Look forward in anger
Every pension journalist is aware of the intergenerational unfairness baked into our retirement system. Baby boomers working in the private sector...
The defined benefit pensions black run
Conventional wisdom says legacy defined benefit pensions will tide over those retiring in the next few decades while defined contribution pots...
Pensions for the self-employed
While auto-enrolment has bolstered pension coverage of those working for others, retirement provision has ebbed away from the self-employed....