Marks & Spencer pension scheme transfers £1.4bn to two insurers May 23, 2019 Troubled retailer Marks & Spencer (M&S) has transferred £1.4bn in pension scheme liabilities to two insurance companies, bringing the total insurance coverage to two thirds. Phoenix Group has insured £460m of liabilities, covering 5,000 pensioners, while Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) has insured £900m of the £10bn pension scheme. Read more: M&S braced for fresh decline [...]
How to cope with the confusion around social care costs May 22, 2019 Distracted by the ongoing Brexit crisis, the government appears to have shoved the not-so-small issue of social care to one side. With a growing elderly population (by 2046, a quarter of the UK population will be aged 65 or over), and proportionately fewer taxpayers able to prop them up, the rising cost of social care [...]
Royal Returns – Interactive Investor on funds and trusts fit for children May 15, 2019 | City Talk By Jemma Jackson from interactive investor. Whilst the latest addition to the Royal family won’t want for much, it’s unlikely that any investments made on his behalf will be left to languish in cash. This contrasts with the majority of the nation’s Junior ISAs, where 70 per cent by number are in cash in the 2017/18 [...]
Failing to discuss your finances with loved ones could cost you thousands – here’s how to broach the subject May 1, 2019 They say money talks. But actually, it turns out that it doesn’t, because discussing financial matters is a subject that few families want to broach. In fact, according to a survey by More2Life, a third of adult children aged 30 to 55 have never discussed their parents’ financial circumstance as a family. But why is [...]
The fault in default funds: Why you might not be getting the most out of your workplace pension scheme April 17, 2019 There is no denying that auto-enrolment is paving the way for the British population to have a half-decent savings pot in retirement. According to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, 76 per cent of UK employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2018, up slightly from the 73 per cent enrolled [...]
Women risk ‘financial meltdown’ over individual pension rights, says report April 17, 2019 Women across the age spectrum are at risk of getting into “severe financial difficulty” if they break up with their partner, because of a lack of control over their pension, according to research. Read more: UK employment hits record high as wages grow again In a Yougov poll, significant numbers of younger women said they [...]
Debate: Should personal auto-enrolment pension contributions rise above the current level of five per cent? April 10, 2019 Should personal auto-enrolment pension contributions rise above the current level of five per cent? Yes – Samantha Seaton is chief executive of Moneyhub. The introduction of auto-enrolment has been hugely positive, and it has offered a great opportunity for people to better engage with their finances. The hard truth, however, is that even saving the minimum [...]
British Airways settles long-running pensions battle with trustees April 9, 2019 British Airways has settled a long-running battle with the trustees of one of its staff pension schemes in a case that was set to go to the Supreme Court. The trustees of the nearly 25,000 member Airways Pension Scheme said today they had agreed to an out-of-court settlement to the dispute, subject to the approval of the [...]
Early bird investors reap rewards April 8, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor. The sooner you utilise your annual ISA allowance, the quicker your money starts working for you. ISA season is over, bringing respite from weekend newspaper supplements offering “five reasons” why we need to act fast to make the most out of our tax-free allowance. Many of us will have [...]
It’s time for the pensions industry to stop taking customers for granted April 5, 2019 With workplace pension contributions increasing from tomorrow, I’m reminded of a recent industry event that I attended. During the keynote, the speaker cut to a video where members of the public were stopped on the street and asked “who is your pension provider?” Most of those questioned looked confused, unable to recall where their pensions [...]