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It is upsetting for everyone to see public sector workers driven onto the streets in an attempt to preserve the meagre lifestyle that they have been promised after a lifetime’s devoted service on behalf of Her Majesty. The despair of the workers at the proposed delay in giving them their pensions and the significant reduction …

What’s the difference between saving and investing?  Many people confuse the two terms yet the difference is substantial.  Savings refer to zero risk products that usually gain a nominal interest, which is close to but does not meet the general inflation rate.  Thus the savings mount up over time but there is a gradual erosion …

Once again, the Canadians are showing how to tackle fundamental problems by using a large dose of common sense and sweating the assets you already have. Following on from their brilliant but obvious approach to transferring pension risk to individuals and then teaching them to cope with it (see blog – http://wp.me/pn0vi-3S), they now seem …

Monday’s Populus survey for the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) showed that 47% of those aged between eighteen and thirty-four would save more for their retirement if they knew how much state pension they would get. Accordingly, the NAPF have stated that the reason for the lack of saving for the future with young …

- Young people don’t save.  They prefer to spend their money on instant gratification rather than think about providing for their own future. –   This is one of the findings from research produced by the International Longevity Centre and Prudential[1], and many will feel that it hardly qualifies as breaking news.   The report …

The announcement of the investment strategy by NEST gets no easier to understand, no matter how long one studies it.  In defiance of all standard pension investment approaches, the investment strategy has been established as a cautious approach for the early , or foundation years;  this applies to people under 30.  This is followed by …

The government are under attack from the financial advice sector for two initiatives, both of which are reckoned to be damaging to the long term financial interest of the mass market.  Firstly, soft compulsion is going to be used to enforce pension savings on the lower paid while secondly the Retail Distribution Review’s fee only …

The Coalition is currently reviewing the approach to pension reform kicked off by the previous government, in particular the personal accounts (NEST) programme.  However, there is no sign that anyone directly in power is looking at the fundamental principles involved or how the flaw in the concept is going to undermine any chance of success. The …