Category: Pensions

Don’t request pension transfer values before speaking to a financial adviser.

Posted on | by Arthur Beverly | Leave a Comment on Don’t request pension transfer values before speaking to a financial adviser.

A number of cautionary notes have been flagged up in the Technical Press warning members of Defined Benefit Pension Schemes (Final Salary Schemes) not to request pension transfer values before speaking to a financial adviser.

Members of Schemes are being warned that there is a risk that individuals “get blindsided by a big number” when they get a cash equivalent transfer value (CETV) from their defined benefit (DB) scheme.

The advice is, “The first thing they should do is to talk to a financial adviser to see if a transfer is appropriate for their situation.”

Following the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015, the volume of defined benefit pension transfers has been soaring, as savers seek to take advantage of sky-high transfer values and move their nest eggs into defined contribution schemes in order to access their cash.

Figures published last year by Mercer, the Pension Administrators,  showed that as much as £50 billion has been pulled from Final Salary Pension Schemes in the previous two years.

Transfer is not always the best option.  Beware!

The disappearance of the Cofunds brand name

Posted on | by Arthur Beverly | Leave a Comment on The disappearance of the Cofunds brand name

Aegon is dropping the Cofunds brand name as it moves users onto an upgraded version of the platform.

After acquiring Cofunds in August last year, Aegon has been working on integrating the platform with its Aegon Retirement Choices offering, bringing many of Cofunds’ features into ARC.

The decision to dispense with the Cofunds branding puts to bed one of the oldest names in the UK platform market.  

Waspi women should be given £15,000 each, Lib Dems say

Posted on | by Arthur Beverly | Leave a Comment on Waspi women should be given £15,000 each, Lib Dems say

The Liberal Democrats have called on the Government to correct the “injustice” faced by the Women Against State Pension Inequality Campaign by giving them £15,000 each.

Stephen Lloyd, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for work and pensions says the Government should do so immediately.  Lloyd argues successive administrations have failed to help women who are set to miss out on years of pension entitlements because of a change in the rules introduced more than two decades ago.   This dates back to Pensions Act 1995 that provided for the state pension age for women to increase from 60 to 65 over the period April 2010 to 2020.

Lloyd appeals to MP Esther McVey, who replaced David Gauke in yesterday’s cabinet reshuffle, to take up the cause of Waspi women in her new role as secretary of state for work and pensions.  He says: “This injustice must be urgently addressed. The most practical way of doing so would be for the Department for Work and Pensions to make a sizeable transition payment to each of the affected women to the tune of £15,000 payable immediately, tax free.

Labour supported Waspi women in its manifesto during the June 2017 election.

 

 

Not sure if I can see that happening – Can you?

Brexit and Diversification

Posted on | by Arthur Beverly | Leave a Comment on Brexit and Diversification

Since the UK electorate’s decision to leave the European Union (EU), the past 17 or so months have been interesting ones, to say the very least, for UK equity investors, and none more so than for those of us focused lower down the market capitalisation scale.

But the UK market is a diverse and internationalised one and, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the FTSE 250 index among others, generate around 40% and 50% of their collective turnover from overseas earners. As such, our view of the world is still firmly coloured from a global perspective.

Many Investment managers like to look ahead and hold a 12-month view of the prevailing global economic and financial market conditions. And according to many, on current evidence, relative to history, we are in the midst of a period of reasonable if not spectacular growth. The US, China, Japan and, belatedly, the Eurozone, are all showing signs of increasing momentum.

By contrast, commentators feel that the UK looks stuck in the limbo of a rather slower pace of growth. Brexit-related uncertainty does now seem to be weighing on consumption and investment across the UK economy and, anecdotally at least, international investors are being put off by the apparent lack of progress in the UK’s exit negotiations.

All of which I would suggest, are good reasons for using the Multi Manager Diversified approach we use with the vast majority of our clients.