Abolishing compulsory annuitisation
A letter in the Times yesterday stated that the new Government will remove the requirement to buy an annuity at retirement, resulting in pensioners running out of money. It also implied that the sole reason for making this change was to increase the...
Privatising Royal Mail
The UK's new Government has put forward plans to privatise parts of Royal Mail, and has suggested that there will be opportunities for employee ownership. This could be a sensible move to help make any privatisation a success - but only if it is done...
The increasing cost of cancer
Research published recently suggests that the cost of treating cancer in the US has doubled over the last 20 years. This surprised me - I would have expected a much greater increase. The research finds that the increased costs arise mainly from an increase...
Excalibur and the election
Last night, as there was nothing better on TV, we settled down to watch a DVD. The film we chose was "Excalibur", an epic retelling of the Arthurian legend. The film begins with a battle: Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur, fights the Duke of Cornwall to...
Socrates and Greek debt
I'm on holiday with the family in Northumberland this week, and today we were in Alnwick (pronounced "Annick", in case you're relating this story and you want to sound knowledgeable). The castle here had a starring role in the Harry Potter films as...
Pensions: DB or not DB? – The Actuary (2010)
The literature covering employee choice in relation to defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) pension schemes is substantial. There are a number of papers looking at the factors influencing employee choice between DB and DC pension schemes, whether to join...