Pensions And Investments
Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:59:28 +0000
paolo standerwick - Thanks to Mr Boom & Bust
10:05 | 10 Feb 2010
Well are we surpried with this? No not really and of course Crash Gordon has had his hands in our pension tills which helped decimate the privatye pension sector. THE POLITICS OF JEALOUSY = LABOUR. Although they seem to have overlooked overpaying some of the public sector with unfunded schemes supported from the productive, profit making and tax paying private sector.
Brian Allen - Maggies' legacy on the assaualt of state benefits
10:40 | 10 Feb 2010
Re: Paulo's comments, lest we forget, at times when reliance on state pension benefits become all the more important because of the miserable performance of pension investment returns, Thatcher's cut's in Serps benefit's aided at the time by the bribe of a rebate on N.I.contributions have done as much if not more damage to reirement solvency for the masses than the blinkered reasons you are putting forward for this current debacle.
Andrew Baker - Gordon, Plutarchy and the leeching classes (public servants).
11:34 | 10 Feb 2010
Gordon Brown is very responsible for smaller pension pots with his taking away of the 10% tax credit: so much of a defined contribution pension comes from dividend re-investment.
The plutarchs at the top of companies, whilst stopping defined benefit schemes, have ensured the survival of their own pensions which are invariably linked to excessive pay.
Civil and public servants in Whitehall, the Town Halls and elsewhere still enjoy inflation proofed pensions that, despite any claims that they pay in to them (as contributions are not enough), will have to be paid for by you and I through taxation (under whatever name).
This current recession has shown up just how greedy large sections of the population are, and how little they care about anyone other than themselves and their similarly connected cronies.
Is it any wonder that emigration is becoming a bigger problem than immigration ever was? Even immigrants are leaving to go back, many as soon as they get their British citizenship: and I don't blame them.
Anon666 - To Paolo Standerwick & Brian Allen
11:44 | 10 Feb 2010
You have both raised very valid points and I would not disagree wit eirther of these.
I would like to add another which seems to get conveniently overlooked in everything I have read.
It appears to me that many of the consulting actuaries who were supposed to be providing advice to the final salary schemes have made significant errors in judgement. It cannot all be down to poor investment performance and Gordon raiding the pension funds at the first opportunity although I note there does not appear to be any signs of a reversal in this matter.
What responsibility are they taking regarding this nonsense and why are they not regulated by the FSA as they clearly have a sgnificant impact upon investments owned by the general public.
Has an actuarial firm been held accountable for miscalculating? Probably not as it's all ifs, ands and maybe's. To be fair so are most other pensions & investments.
Furthermore the length of time it takes to obtain accurate information regarding deferred benefits held in a final salary sheme is little short of scandalous and the FSA with all it's resources and pontificating about putting the client first and foremost should be looking at this nonsense as this also has a bearing on the outcome for the consumer.
All we want is a level playing field!
Julian Stevens - Don't worry
12:20 | 10 Feb 2010
NESTs will put everything to rights. There are none so blind as those who will not see (and who themselves enjoy publicly funded gold plated final salary pensions). Assholes!
Pension funds must play a greater role in demanding a crackdown on excessive City bonuses to protect pensioner cash, Lord Myners has said.
The City minister told the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) that fund trustees and institutional investors had a "legal duty" to pensioners to ask for better standards from the financial services industry and insist on more modest pay deals.
Lord Myners said there had been "significant shortcomings" and failures to take boards to task that had cost savers dearly.
The biggest failure of all was in letting bonuses reach sky-high levels, but soaring levels of financial services fees also needed to be addressed.
"We appear to have lost the ability to hold the boards of some public companies to account," he said.
"In light of the recent financial turmoil and the sheer quantum of value destroyed by some governance shortcomings, I think it is fair to ask all participants in the investment chain to act in every way possible to prevent history repeating itself."
He added: "You have a legal duty to your beneficiaries to protect the value of assets held in trust on their behalf and a duty to the businesses in which you invest. Shareholders need to meet their responsibilities as owners."
The NAPF launched a new governance code to promote better engagement within the pension fund industry. But Lord Myners also added to calls for an independent industry body to represent institutional investors, regardless of sector, industry or product.
In response to Lord Myners' speech, NAPF chief executive Joanne Segars said: "We recognise that stronger companies mean stronger pension schemes. Pension schemes remain committed to their role as responsible owners and to driving up corporate governance standards in the UK.
"We will support the Government in improving corporate behaviour, but we also need their help in supporting workplace pensions and we urge the Government to use its last Budget of this Parliament to provide the support they are crying out for."
Interestingly, the Telegraph reports that pension funds are telling hedge funds to drop fees:
