My pensions manifesto
There have already been a number of pensions manifestos, demanding commitments from the main political parties to sign up to their demands. I think it might be a little presumptuous to make the same demands for my manifesto, but if any politicians do take...
Curing the NHS
I had to take my daughter for a hospital appointment today. Nothing serious, just a consultant follow-up and blood test that she needs to have every few months. The appointment with the consultant lasted 10 minutes, the same amount of time it took to take...
Care of the elderly
There are a lot of promises being made about care of the elderly in the current election campaign. A particular concern seems to be that people do not have to sell their houses to pay for residential care, as this is seen as unfair. The alternative, which...
Public sector pensions
The CBI produced an interesting and timely report on public sector pensions today. It raises a number of important issues, but the solutions suggested could cause as many problems as they solve. One very good point is that pension accrual should be...
Government-issued longevity bonds
There has been some discussion in the FT over the last week regarding the issue of longevity bonds. David Blake proposed that the Government could raise capital by issuing longevity bonds whilst Paul Dare proposed that these bonds could be sold direct to...
Saving defined benefit pensions (part 2)
Hot on the heels of the NAPF, the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA) has launched its own 6-point manifesto to save defined benefit pension schemes in the UK. There are some good points here, and I want to concentrate on two in particular:...