Union uproar over ITV plans to close pension scheme September 7, 2016 Broadcaster ITV is under fire from unions over plans to close its pension scheme. The company has told staff it plans to shut its defined benefits pension scheme to future accruals. Under the change, those benefits built up within the current scheme would remain in place. However, future proceeds would be put into a new defined [...]
Scottish widows reveal Britain’s pension habits: saving nudges higher in second year of auto-enrolment September 7, 2016 The number of people relying on a defined benefit pension scheme has fallen to less than one in four according research released today. Scottish Widows said that just 24 per cent of people will rely on a final salary scheme as their main source of retirement income, down from 33 per cent last year. Meanwhile [...]
You’re on a runway to retirement: Here’s how to make sure you don’t run out of fuel September 6, 2016 Retirement may seem a long way off, but by the time you are 50 you could have only 180 monthly paydays left to make your financial preparations for your later years (and that’s assuming you continue working to 65 – your working life could end sooner than that). Think of yourself as being on a [...]
FTSE 350 pension deficits increase by £50bn during August September 5, 2016 Lower for longer interest rates led to pensions deficits ballooning to new highs at the end of August according to data released today. The aggregate pension deficits FTSE 350 companies now stand at £189bn, up from £139bn at the end of July. "The seemingly relentless march in pension scheme deficit increases continues," said Le Roy van Zyl of pension specialists Mercer [...]
Britain’s pension deficits grew by £100bn in August alone September 1, 2016 Britain's companies were urged to think of plugging pension holes as “part of the furniture” of financial planning after new research showed that deficits grew by a staggering £100bn during August. The PwC Skyval index, which covers 6,000 British defined benefit pension schemes, revealed that aggregate deficits had widened to £710bn by the end of August. [...]
Don’t overreact to vast pension scheme deficits: We need a new normal for how they’re measured September 1, 2016 Pension schemes are faced with serious challenges following the EU referendum result and the Bank of England’s recent stimulus package. Both events have driven down long-term gilt yields. As a result, for defined benefit pension schemes valuing their liabilities using gilt discount rates, deficits continue to grow. Our Skyval Index shows that deficits have increased [...]
Experts welcome Treasury proposals to allow tax-free draw-downs to fund financial advice August 31, 2016 With millions of workers being automatically enrolled into a workplace pension the Treasury launched a consultation to ensure that they are adequately advised in preparation for retirement. The launch follows an announcement by the government in the March 2016 Budget to consult on recommendations by the Financial Advice Market Review (FAMR). The FAMR proposals were to allow [...]
Pension or property: Which is the better option for your retirement? August 31, 2016 The Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane drew ire from the pensions industry for the second time this year, when he claimed that property was a better investment option for retirement than a pension in an interview with The Sunday Times this weekend. “It ought to be pensions but it’s almost certainly property,” Haldane said. [...]
An art rather than a science: one way to value the assets, four ways to value the liabilities August 29, 2016 Many of us like big numbers. But when it comes to pensions deficits, big numbers are not a good thing. Britain’s pension deficit values vary from day-to-day and from calculation to calculation. The numbers cited range from hundreds of billions to trillions of pounds. The reason they differ is because there numerous ways of calculating [...]
Pension funds want government help to hedge spiralling deficits August 24, 2016 The government has responded to calls for help from Britain's pension funds in managing their ever-growing deficits. The UK Debt Management Office released its latest consultations on Tuesday and concluded it would sell three tranches of index-linked debt within the third quarter of this year – one through a syndicated sale and two through an auction. Long-running pension scheme [...]