April has been a joyous month bringing a return to normal life after long lockdown. Pleasures might be constrained to a haircut, going back to the gym and al-fresco dining but I feel good – if a little chilly – to be out and about. This post details the five lockdown life hacks to keep now life goes back to normal. My latest article for Professional Pensions talks about Gen Xers facing a shock when they retire. A piece taking a look at LCP’s Ski-slope of Doom report shows how private sector defined benefit pensions are less robust than had been assumed. In May, I’ll start work on my next project looking at how Brexit affects financial service sectors.

Five life hacks to keep after lockdown

Don’t you hate it when people wang on about the benefits of lockdown? Me too. But there are strategies I developed to survive this challenging time which I will maintain now life returns to normal. This post explains how it all starts with a good night’s sleep. From that foundation you can build a good routine. I found simple tools like to-do lists and careful planning of my day to be helpful. Building good habits leaves your brain free to focus on more complex tasks. And with the end of lockdown we can now start to balance our productivity with pleasure.

Gen Xers: set to face a shock in later life

My latest article for Professional Pensions discusses how the generation born between 1965 and 1980 are likely to feel the pinch at retirement, according to a report published by the International Longevity Centre. Caught out by the decline in defined benefit pensions and the time taken to introduce auto-enrolment, nearly one in three of this generation risks reaching retirement with inadequate incomes. The piece examines the particular pressure on this cohort and what can be done to improve their later life.

The defined benefit pensions black run

Conventional wisdom says legacy defined benefit will tide over those retiring over the next few decades until defined contribution pots take their place. But my latest piece looks at the LCP The Ski-slope of Doom report which dispels this myth. It argues the increase in the number of public sector workers in recent decades is masking the decline in the private sector defined benefits. This retirement income will peak soon before rapidly declining and underlines how important it is to grow DC pots more rapidly.

Brexit and financial services

Next month I’m going to start work on my latest project to explain the effects of Brexit on the financial service sector. The aim will be to provide a series of pieces outlining how being outside the European Union has different impacts on asset managers, banks and insurance companies.

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