The top five asset managers in the newly launched Investment Credibility Index are adaptable, have strong business models and are authentic. In contrast, the bottom five lack accountability, a total quality system and do not realise human potential. Moore Squared...
June has been podcast-tastic! We have recorded and released four new episodes in just two weeks – four for The Professional Investment Podcast and one for EY’s Re-imagining Pensions Podcast. As we come to the end of series six of The Professional Investment Podcast,...
After the quiet of the Easter holidays, May was a frantic month filled with client meetings and new podcast episodes! We launched series six of The Professional Investment Podcast and have released four new episodes. We’ve also published three new episodes of EY’s...
Moore Squared Communications hit an important milestone in March – our first anniversary! This month we returned to Pensions UK’s annual investment conference and ran our first fringe event with Untamed Consulting. Twelve months ago we were explaining our purpose and...
January has been frenetic! We have managed to cram in two gifted workshops, two client workshops and one networking event. Charlotte started co-hosting EY’s Re-imagining Pensions Podcast with Paul Kitson. The Professional Investment Podcast also published the first...
This autumn has been a whirlwind! We've released new episodes of the podcast, interviewed Dan Mikulskis - CIO at People's Partnership, provider of People's Pension over breakfast. We also held two new workshops and along with our latest sustainable investment event...
Bam! And we are back! After the torpor of August, this month has been stuffed with client work, events, blogging and podcasting. We are rolling out the events and workshops we've been planning over the summer. More on that later!'Be a credible sustainable investor'...
The investment industry puts a high value on intellectual ability. We think everyone is rational actor making decisions based on data and clear analysis. We often forget how we present is a vital part of what makes us credible. We set the tone for an online call, an...
Unlike other industries, the asset management industry reacts rapidly to change. The advantage of making money from volatile financial markets is that you become used to your fortunes shifting over a matter of days. That makes the industry adept at tightening its...
After two decades of change in the UK institutional investment market, asset managers continue to see the market place shift. As our last blog explained, great opportunities exist for those managers who can match this evolving client need. But many asset managers are...
While most of the pensions industry took a well-deserved break over July and August, Moore Squared beavered away. We are creating new workshops and events which we're excited to tell you more about soon. It wasn't all work and no play though - we found time to enjoy...
The era of the transaction is dead! Long live the age of collaboration! That might seem a strange sentiment to express in a President Trump world where the transactional mindset is revered but UK asset owners favour deeper relationships. A combination of evolution and...
The Pension Commission has been reformed to address pension inadequacy. While there are significant concerns over employees not having a large enough pension pot, the outlook for self-employed is even more stark. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, around...
Advertising doesn’t work the way you think. You don’t see a glossily-produced, Nigella-worthy Lurpak advert and decide: “I will now only buy that Danish butter brand.” Traditional advertising theory says we are rational beings with near perfect memories. But the...
Last week the government announced The Pensions Commission will be reformed to focus on solving pensions adequacy. At the Pensions and Lifetimes Savings Association’s – now Pensions UK – conference in March, pensions minister, Torsten Bell, ruled out this approach. In...
It’s obvious to this demi-Dane Thor has a mischievous sense of humour. After weeks of sunshine, he ensured the rain arrived in time for half-term. But Moore Squared Communications welcomed this week of cool respite after a thunderously busy May and before an equally...
It’s obvious to this demi-Dane Thor has a mischievous sense of humour. After weeks of sunshine, he ensured the rain arrived in time for half-term. But Moore Squared Communications welcomed this week of cool respite after a thunderously busy May and before an equally...
Everyone in the investment industry can relate. Butterflies in the stomach and palms sweating as you wait to step into the meeting room or for the video call to start. All your hard work riding on how the next half an hour pans out. As much as we would like to turn...
Last week saw a spike in the number of posts on how to use LinkedIn well. One woman was responsible for this increased social media awareness – Stacy Havener was in town! For those of you who aren’t aware of Stacy – have you been living under a rock? – she helps...
Once you have mastered the art of designing events and your clients treat you as a trusted partner, the next step is hosting a podcast to cement your organisation’s credibility. The purpose of a podcast is to demonstrate true thought leadership. Just as a good event...
While many in the pensions industry took a well-deserved break at the start of an exceptionally sunny April, Moore Squared Communications continued talking and posting! We published two more blogs addressing the challenges faced by asset managers – the first looked at...
Last year a new concept took hold in the UK’s closed private sector defined benefit schemes – rather than transferring all the assets to an insurance company, why not run-on these schemes instead? There are clear incentives for the industry to maintain pension schemes...
Remember those crazy days during the pandemic when conventional wisdom said events were dead and everything would be online? Scroll forward five years and the pensions calendar bulges with conferences, round-tables and panel discussions. Relationships are at the heart...
According to the headlines, sustainable investing is out of favour. The SEC issued guidance on investor activism which caused BlackRock and Vanguard to pull out of company meetings. Azoria Partners expects to launch a fund threatening to punish 'woke' companies. And...
After a tough decade and a once-in-a-generation change in bond yields, asset managers have struggled to keep up with the pace of change. But rather than giving the industry a moment to adjust, the Labour government has added to the pressure. Growth push Facing a tough...
That was a mad March! Early in the month my sister, Natasha Moore, and I brought you Moore Squared Communications to help asset managers build better connections. The following week we boarded the train for the PLSA’s investment conference. We spent a delightful few...
We like to think investment is about understanding data and facts. But relationships are at the heart of the industry. Yet asset managers often have contradictory attitudes to this reality. Allocating capital to create future growth is a complex business. It requires...
Charlotte and Natasha today bring you Moore Squared Communications to help asset managers build better client connections. With a combined 50 years’ experience in the investment sector, the sisters understand how rapid changes have shrunk asset managers’ client pool....
I feel jubilant today marks the end of this bitter metrological winter. But the rain, biting winds and thermal vests under chunky sweaters has not stopped me from having a frantic February! Two more episodes of The Professional Investment Podcast have been released –...
The weather has been bitingly cold and the days often grey but there has been no winter lethargy this January! The first three episodes of the second series of The Professional Investment Podcast examined the impact of accelerating climate change and the implications...
This November marked the third anniversary of my sustainable networking events. To mark the occasion, we captured the latest discussion of how to make fixed income sustainable with some photos. The pictures show how comfortable I have become, mic in hand, on the tiny...
In October, the grey pavements of my London street gain a splash of colour when red and yellow leaves fall and cover them. This was another month filled with podcasting. Three new episodes of The Professional Investment Podcast went live this month. In the first,...
After the relaxed torpor of August, the liveliness of September came as a welcome change of gear. My latest sustainable networking event asking how the Labour government could make pensions more sustainable was a candid conversation of how policy makers and investors...
After a disappointing start to the summer, the weather gods rewarded us with plenty of August sunshine. I remained busy, even as my inbox filled with out-of-office replies. I wrote a blog post looking at whether Labour’s wealth fund would be a good idea. I also had...
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 fund. Reeves said a taskforce lead by Mark Carney has been delivered a report currently being considered by government....
At the end of May I acted as master of ceremonies for Candriam’s investment seminar in Madrid. What a career highlight! I love every minute of a day packed with fascinating speakers and great audience questions. Back in London, I moderated a panel session for SG...
After months of rain, May’s few warm days felt fabulous. Fingers crossed we’ll have more time in the sun once the summer season officially commences! I started the month chairing a session on role of private debt in financing the transition at Private Debt Investor’s...
While UK defined benefit pensions have experienced rapid change in recent years, in the world of defined contribution political ambitions have created a confusing agenda. The political plan for DC has been driven by an emerging cross-party consensus to encourage...
After a quiet start to April, school holidays ended and our capital city sprang back to life. The tube filled, bars were once again rammed on a Thursday night and we all dashed from one event to the next. A cascade of articles was published this month starting with a...
The rapid improvement in defined benefit pension scheme funding levels over the space of last year is extraordinary. According the Purple Book, surpluses in 2023 were £367bn, an increase of more than £110bn from 2022. With buy-out transfers expected to be around £50bn...
The blooming of the cherry trees in my favourite local street heralded the arrival of spring − the picturesque froth of pink flowers signalling renewal. This month I wrote the latest in a series of blog posts looking at the challenges facing asset managers. It...
In recent years, institutional investors had to adopt the philosophy of the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland and believe six impossible things before breakfast. If someone had predicted in 2020 that the post global-financial crisis interest-rate cuts would have been...
Glimpsing the sea at the bottom of the hill as you walk along George Street in Edinburgh never gets old. This year’s PLSA investment conference was the usual delightful confection of industry insight, gossip and jokes. It was a great way to end a busy month of...
The frosty yet sunny weather of early January felt like an auspicious start to 2024. Last year was filled with many professional successes – from winning awards to being asked to moderate events – and I’m curious to see what the next 12 months will bring! The first...
This month has been a blur of moderating panel sessions, attending events and taking part in awards ceremonies. It’s a miracle I’ve managed to squeeze in any writing between all those enjoyable in-person sessions! The month kicked off with my latest networking event...
At the start of October, I was enjoying the heat in Malaga, snacking on orange sorbet and admiring the views from the Giabralfaro castle. Back in London, my latest feature for MandateWire was published, which discussed whether it was a good idea to allow asset owners...
Photo credit: The Trouble Club and Alice Lubbock After the calm of August, there has been a strong back to school vibe this month. It’s been great to get back to chairing events with a record 43 people attending my latest sustainable networking get-together where we...
In 2022 the headwinds facing asset managers reliant on the UK’s £3trn occupational pension schemes became even more extreme. The war in Ukraine and Liz Truss’ actions last September brought about a once in a generation change to financial markets. (I've used a photo...
It has been a Darwinian decade for asset managers with some parts of the industry eating the lunch of others. Companies have forced to become nimble and adapt to the rise of low-cost passive investment. The ability to design products which track indices at cheap...
After the heat of June, the cooler and wetter days of July made it easier to write articles, work on corporate projects and attend events. I was delighted to win highly commended for defined benefit journalist of the year at the WTW Media Awards 2023. Ahead of the...
A busy PLSA Investment Conference at the start of June set the month’s frantic clip. Edinburgh was bonny in the summer sunshine with green trees and long days amplifying its romance. After shoe-horning as many meetings as possible into two and half days, I returned to...
At the start of May, I was admiring spring flower-filled olive groves and the sparkling seas off the Messinian coast in Greece. As soon as I got back to London, I chaired two conference sessions at PDI’s Europe Summit 2023. It was fun to be moderating a panel I didn’t...
After a busy first three months of the year, I expected April to be quieter as the Easter holidays kicked in. I was wrong: business continued at a rapid clip! My latest feature for Professional Adviser examined the future of the traditional 60:40 portfolio − this...
In contrast to February’s sunny brightness, March was four weeks of dripping umbrellas and wet shoes. It also rained articles! I had two pieces published for Professional Wealth Management – one looking at how data and regulation will make impact investing more...
With January in the rear-view mirror, the pace picked up this month. For the first time since the pandemic, the one-day conference has returned. I attended not one but two all-day London events. And I loved it! Getting paid to write up the key takeaways from one...
Today is the final day of January! Isn’t that delightful? It is the cruellest of months – dark and dingy but with none of the festive joy of December. Every year I seek succour in citrus. Seville oranges to be precise. I spend a happy two days juicing, slicing,...
Do you remember the dull grey days of last December? Thankfully the weather gods put on a much better performance this year with foggy mornings, frost under foot and even snow! This month marked a first. After 15 years of focusing on the institutional investor market,...
Wet weather plagued the penultimate month of the year but failed to dampen people’s appetite for socialising. The start of November marked the just over one-year anniversary of my networking events – sorry, pensions salons! And, despite it being a rainy evening, I had...
Timing is everything. At the end of September, I had an operation and wrote a Twitter thread about the impact of rising gilt yields on LDI collateral payments from my hospital bed. That social-media post proved prophetic and went viral! A day later and only hours...
Most felt concerned went they heard an obscure part of the pension universe almost blew up the UK’s financial system. The conclusion was the recent LDI shenanigans must have had a negative impact on closed private sector defined benefit pension schemes. But, if you...
A few weeks ago liability-driven investment (LDI) went from an obscure pension back water to front page news because it threatened to undermine the UK’s financial stability, forcing the Bank of England to intervene. Before the government’s mini-fiscal event, 30-year...
Since the end of September articles about liability-driven investment (LDI) have gone from the inside pages of specialist pension magazines to the front pages of the national newspapers. Rapidly rising gilt yields sparked by the government’s mini-fiscal event created...
September had an intense back-to-school vibe with a plethora of networking events, awards ceremonies and conferences. My third and final article for MandateWire outlining the impact of the current macroeconomic environment on UK’s closed defined benefit schemes was...
After an intense summer of heat and post-pandemic partying, I feel ready for the cool days and nights of autumn. Over August the pace of social activity slowed but the pace of publications did not. My first opinion piece was published for Professional Pensions arguing...
July is usually the month when corporate events wind down in the run up to the school holidays. Not this year. The fast pace of social activity continued as the temperatures cranked up. This month I enjoyed a fun, but somewhat sweaty, Headline Money Awards as well as...
You might have noticed there was no newsletter at the end of last month. I felt so happy to be back in Edinburgh in May for the first in-person PLSA conference in two years but I came home with covid, which put me out of diary-writing action. To make up for it, this...
“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 sentence of the article How ESG came to a reckoning published earlier this month by the Financial Times. My reaction to that intro? I do hope...
At the end of March the streets of West London emptied. The first school holidays without covid restrictions sparked a mass exodus. Posting on LinkedIn was like shouting into the void. I decided if you can’t beat them, join them! So I headed to Greece to enjoy spring...
If we want to include impact investing in all occupational pension schemes then we need to consider how we do this not only for those who are auto-enrolled but also for legacy schemes. There is considerable wealth tucked away in closed private sector pension schemes....
March is cherry blossom season in my part of London and the local streets fill with branches of delicate white and pink flowers. I was touched to find some trees also carrying blue and yellow ribbons in support of Ukraine. It’s hard to believe it’s been a month since...
At 4.30am on Thursday, 24th February my radio woke me up. I lay listening to the news of Russia invading Ukraine and knew I wouldn’t be needed for a business round-up on Times Radio that morning. It was a surreal end to a month which, up to that point, had felt like a...
I always feel happy when I get to the end of January – it’s good to have the most miserable month of the year in the rear view mirror! I feel particularly pleased the dreariness of the last four weeks did not slow down my productivity. I posted a blog taking a closer...
Sustainable investing is following a well-trodden path. As a new investment trend gains popularity, it becomes more sophisticated as people get to grips with the concept. What started out as risk management has turned into making a positive change. In my last post I...
Just like life, sustainable investing is a journey. When investors take their first step, they tend to focus on risk and look to exclude the most egregious companies from their portfolios. As they become more comfortable with this way of building portfolios they think...
As 2021 draws to a close, I feel happy to have completed a second year of monthly newsletters. The deadline motivates me to write regular blog posts, which in turn have sparked interesting conversations on LinkedIn. In May this year, I started to write articles which...
While the majority of the working population pays into an auto-enrolled defined contribution pot, the bulk of the UK’s current private sector pension wealth is concentrated in closed defined benefit portfolios. That’s because auto-enrolled pensions have only existed...
There is a potential storm brewing between scheme members and pension providers over investing in fossil fuel companies. Six out of 10 UK adults do not want financial firms to support or profit from fossil fuel extraction. That’s what a recent survey by Opinium...
I love autumn weather so the end of November with its bright skies, frosty roofs and piles of leaves has been delightful. At the start of the month, my latest article for IPE explaining how stewardship can help companies to adopt net zero targets was published to...
Employees are increasingly aware their pension pots can be used to help to protect the planet and improve society. That’s a result of climate change becoming more salient and the success of campaigning groups such as Make My Money Matter. This represents both an...
Now we have established environmental, social and governance factors are not a form of sustainable investing but instead a tool, we can turn our attention to the way they are used in standard workplace pension schemes. In this post, I explained how examining ESG...
Feedback is so helpful. I thought my last post explained why I feel frustrated when asset managers talk about ESG investing. But the useful comments I received in response to posting on LinkedIn made me realise I had not been clear. Using a TLA as a descriptor adds to...
Sustainable investing terminology can be perplexing. Rather than clearly define their terms, asset managers assume a high level of prior knowledge and frequently lapse into jargon. As I outlined in my first post, this lack of clarity creates confusion. Referring to...
Halloween is always a frightening end to the month of October. With COP26 starting next month, many have spent the past few weeks looking at what we should fear from climate change. As well as writing sustainable investment articles for magazines, I’ve added to my own...
By providing capital to companies, investors have influence on executive boards. When used wisely, shareholder voting rights and debt negotiations can persuade companies to act outside of their comfort zone. In my last post, I explained how investors could choose to...
The weather gods do so love to toy with us: they give us the heat in September we should have had in August. It was so warm at this month’s Headline Money awards that pre-dinner drinks were held outside. I felt beyond excited to attend my first large event for 18...
Investors face a choice about how to treat companies with less than perfect sustainability characteristics – they can exclude them from their portfolio or they can invest in them and aim to change corporate behaviour. As my first blog post outlined, excluding...
Hot on the heels of Ian Duncan Smith’s suggestion that pension schemes should invest in unicorn technology companies came last week’s challenge from the Prime Minister and the Chancellor for institutional investors to participate in an investment big bang. While the...
Sustainable investing can be a confusing concept. That’s because it covers a range of different investment styles and there is a lack of clear definitions. The spectrum of capital as outlined here by Karen Shackleton is a useful framework to gain a great understanding...
Events. Remember those? I went to my first one this week since the pandemic started. It felt so good to sit once again in a room full of people. In the basement of The Ned, I listened to Otegha Uwagba discuss her latest book We Need to Talk About Money. It inspired me...
Every pension journalist is aware of the intergenerational unfairness baked into our retirement system. Baby boomers working in the private sector will retire with an income for life. But if their children follow in their footsteps, they are unlikely to have...
In the last post I explained the importance of regulation for the asset management sector and how being outside of the EU means the UK industry can no longer make use of the regulatory framework which allowed them to passport their products around the EEA. The article...
Were you secretly relieved when May’s heat wave turned into grey skies and rain? I was. I find it easier to spend time at the desk when the sunshine outside isn’t filling my head with thoughts of sun loungers and dips in the sea. I’ve spent the month writing a series...
The last post laid out the purpose and structure of the asset management industry. It also showed how the UK companies had benefitted from being a member of the EU, managing to accumulate a disproportionate amount of the region’s assets. It illustrated how, as a...
In the first post I outlined the importance of freedom of movement, mutual recognition of qualifications and non-discrimination between citizens in establishing a single market for services. For services to be sold within the single market, they need to be defined to...
As lockdown approached in March last year I wrote a guide to working well from home, distilling the lessons I’ve learnt over the past 14 years from running a business from my London flat. In the months after its publication, the professional and financial services...
Life started to feel normal in May. A couple of trips into the City to meet contacts provided the inspiration which had been so lacking during lockdown. Wandering around the Square Mile made me think of the challenges posed by the new world of hybrid work and inspired...
When an investment trend emerges you can count on the asset management sector to develop terminology which is loosely defined, populated with three-letter acronyms and usually creates more confusion than clarity. Sustainable investing is no exception. Managers will...
Welcome to the first in a series of articles which will examine the impact of Brexit on the financial service sector. The aim of these posts is to explain how being outside the EEA will impact key financial service sectors such as asset management, banking and...
Conventional wisdom says legacy defined benefit pensions will tide over those retiring in the next few decades while defined contribution pots gradually grow and take their place. But a recent paper by LCP called The Ski-slope of Doom dispels this myth. While public...
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...
Sunny April skies heralded our return to a more normal life after more than a year of pandemic. I counted down the days until restrictions lifted and embraced getting a haircut and exercising in a gym. The greatest pleasure has been meeting friends for dinner – even...
While auto-enrolment has bolstered pension coverage of those working for others, retirement provision has ebbed away from the self-employed. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the proportion of this cohort who save for a pension declined to 16% in 2018...
Recent blue skies have perfectly offset local displays of pale pink cherry blossom and heralded the start of a new season. The first month of spring brought the publication of two recent articles. One chartered how private markets have become a popular option for...
After the long, dark, cold, days of winter lockdown, the warm sunshine at the end of February heralded a more upbeat mood. The launch of my updated website marked a fresh start. The clearer layout makes it easier for people to find my UK Pension Landscape series,...
In yesterday’s blog post I discussed how George Osborne’s freedom and choice has made it more challenging for scheme members to manage their retirement. Now individuals are no longer required to purchase an annuity, it's up to them to ensure their pension pots last...
In April 2015 Chancellor George Osborne changed the way people could access their defined contribution pension pots after the age of 55. Members could take a quarter of the pot as tax-free cash and there was no longer any requirement to use the remainder to purchase...
The new year started with the last post in my series explaining the UK Pensions Landscape. This addressed how unfunded public sector pensions work and whether the government is accurately valuing the cost of these benefits. January was also the time to start the next...
Now my series of posts explaining the UK pensions landscape has been completed, it’s time to address which issues need to be resolved to ensure pension schemes offer the best possible future to their members. In this post I explained how the UK government...
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, doctors, nurses and civil servants.Each government department has its own defined benefit scheme – members receive an...
I stuck to my promise. At the start of this year I vowed to produce a monthly diary containing links to recent articles and blogs to give you an idea of the topics which interest me. And here we are in December! In 2020 I’ve explained the UK pension landscape. A...
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 attention to pension provision for those in the public sector. Pension provision is different for those who work for local...
This month I posted the last in the series chronicling the development of UK private sector pensions from World War Two to today. The final piece of the jigsaw explains how the government first ‘staged’ and then ‘phased’ auto-enrolment from 2012. November also saw the...
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 pensions at the start of the millennium by forming The Pension Commission in 2002. Simplified state pensions and increasing...
Exciting news! This month I’ve got together with Chris Dell, Tara McCorquodale and Caroline Brown to launch the The Scale Partnership – Financial. We’re pooling our experience at a time when we think the industry should be talking more. Over the last four weeks, I’ve...
The last post discussed how the Pension Commission was established by the Labour government in 2002 to review the level of occupational pension provision, as well as the level of personal pensions and other savings. Postponing retirement The Commission published its...
In my last three blog posts I explained how the gold-standard of defined benefit pensions had turned from a useful recruiting tool into an expensive liability for private sector schemes by the start of the millennium. The culmination of these changes was a slew of...
September was a satisfying month. I continued my explanation of how UK pension policy has evolved by charting the rise and fall of the gold-standard private sector pension scheme. A discussion with people who have long pension memories on LinkedIn revealed how the...
In my last post, I discussed how the introduction of new accounting standards at the start of the millennium cemented the fate of the private sector defined benefit pension scheme. This post continues this discussion explaining how to value future liabilities and why...
In the last post, I discussed how changes during the 1990s turned defined benefit pension from a useful recruiting tool into an expensive liability. By the end of the decade many companies chose to close these schemes to new members. At the start of the millennium,...
In the first post of this series explaining the history of UK pensions, we discussed the concept of a retirement income and the evolution of the state pension. Unlike other European countries, the UK state pension was conceived as a basic income to keep people from...
This is the first in a series of posts which aim to bring some clarity to pensions. I aim to explain pensions from first principles to give you an understanding of the relationship between government policy, investment and regulation. The goal is to improve your...
July was an exciting month. I appeared twice on Times Radio's early breakfast show. In my debut we talked about the impact of Rishi Sunak’s summer statement on companies’ ability to retain staff. The second was an in-depth discussion of the impact of the covid crisis...
In June I looked at how the current covid crisis is accelerating current trends. One post discussed how working-from-home has become ubiquitous among professional services and a follow-up imagined how work patterns should evolve. It was also time to take a closer look...
Recent work-related conversations have fallen into a pattern. They open with a discussion about how we feel about being at home five days a week. Many say they enjoy the extra time freed up by not commuting and how much easier it is to be productive in the quiet of...
At the end of February I stood in a meeting room in the City looking into a nearby office block. Rows of workers sat staring silently at computer screens. I thought: “Why bother travelling for an hour to not talk to colleagues and stare at a PC screen? Couldn’t you...
It’s understandable why so many in the private sector feel their defined benefit pension is gold-plated. These provide a high-quality retirement income – matching either final or average salaries – which are paid for life and keep pace with increases in inflation. But...
This month I started to assess the economic impact of Covid-19. To help those struggling with the economic slowdown, a post shared some tips gleaned from the uncertainty of freelancing. A recently published article looks at how the current crisis is making it more...
Freelancing for 14 years has proved good practice for life in the time of the Covid-19 crisis. When the lockdown was imposed, I share my top tips for how to work well from home. The uncertainty associated with being your own boss is now proving a useful experience as...
The Covid-19 crisis has brought our relationship with uncertainty into sharp focus. It has shaken our feeling of control and called into question how we quantify risk. While the confusion created by the virus has made everyone feel more exposed to risk, some are more...
Last month I noted the Covid-19 crisis is forcing us to be better communicators. To help those who want to write well, I recently shared my top tips gleaned from working as a journalist over the last 16 years. The pandemic has highlighted our attitudes to uncertainty...
The lockdown has made us embrace communication. Marketing departments need extra content as they grapple with maintaining relationships in this restrained environment. Both portfolio and relationship managers are under pressure to produce clear copy to capture the...
Communication becomes a vital skill during a pandemic. Every professional has their role to play. Journalists document the challenges the virus poses for those managing pension schemes. Copywriters tell clients about the threats and opportunities which have arisen...
While many in the professional service sector are used to remote working one or two days a week, turning your home into your office can be challenging. Over the last 14 years I’ve learnt how to make running a business from my flat a productive and enjoyable...
One of the first things I learnt as an investment analyst was never to become too bewitched by a company’s profitability - always take a close look at the cash-flow. Many an investor had been caught out by the profit and loss account painting a picture of financial...
The Pension and Lifetime Saving Association’s investment conference gets underway in a week’s time. Here are my top tips on how to get the most of a hectic few days without feeling like a wrung-out dishrag afterwards. Failure to prepare is to prepare to fail...
Well done! You survived the worst month of the year. February may seem like a rerun of January but take heart: the days are lengthening and it will soon be light before 7am. Despite the gloom, the last month has been productive for me – as illustrated below. If any of...
This year I'll be writing a monthly diary. It’ll be a round-up of interesting snippets from interviews I conducted for articles and conversations with contacts. I’ll also include links to recent articles and blog posts. I aim to give you a better idea of the topics...
Learning about behavioural economics is one of the best parts of being a pension journalist. This branch of social science endeavours to explain why humans often don’t make logical financial decisions. There are many fascinating observations. There is, for example,...
The auto-enrolment of employees in occupational pension scheme has been one of most successful government policies over the last two decades. Yet none of the lessons learnt from this radical protocol have been applied to Brexit, despite it being the most significant...
The pension minister’s announcement that restrictions on the National Employment Savings Trust will be abolished in 2017 is a significant step towards the end of the individual company pension scheme. The European Commission’s decision to approve the lifting of the...
Today I received a press release which, at first glance, looked like one any self-respecting financial journalist should ignore. An active manager says its response to the Local Government Pension Scheme consultation was to warn against local authorities shifting into...
I’ll admit it: I have strong opinions about pensions and investment. I find it particularly vexing when anyone uses the word ‘saving’ while talking about pensions. That’s why the first blog I wrote addresses this very issue. Research released by Nest Corporation today...
In the somewhat dry and technical world of pensions it is a good week when life is enlivened by two parties expressing equally strong yet opposing views on a particular topic. The most entertaining aspect of the government’s unveiling of its Pensions Bill last week...
Last week KPMG issued a report on the asset management industry declaring the number of global players would halve by 2030. Forecasting the size of an industry to decrease by 50% is certainly a headline-grabbing prediction but that was not the only interesting insight...
t’s inevitable coalition government policy will be a Frankenstein monster – ideas from different parties are stitched together to form a whole. And then politicians cross their fingers and hope it will be cohesive enough to lumber through to the next election without...
A collective defined contribution scheme, which pools together assets from multiple companies, has much to recommend it. It’s no longer effective for many companies to set up their own DC schemes – it requires too great a commitment from the executive team. In...
Even though more than two months have passed since Budget, the pensions industry is still coming to terms with the long-term implications of dropping the requirement for pensioners to buy an annuity on retirement. The most important concern is to ensure members buy...
After months of speculation, the announcement by the government at the end of March that it will impose a 0.75% charge cap on all defined contribution schemes used for auto-enrolment pension schemes at least drew a line in the sand for the pensions industry. While a...
Beep! Another piece of analysis lands in the email box on how the withdrawal of the requirement to buy an annuity will affect the pensions industry. With each email, the complexity of one seemingly simple change in pension policy mushrooms further. Trying to get one...
Indulge me in a thought experiment. Imagine that an asset management firm has commissioned a marketing company to carry out some consumer research. In a room 20 people are gathered from an appropriately broad range of ages and demographic backgrounds. The...