Investment

The government should immediately double the amount retirees receive in basic state pension, as there are no significant arguments for not doing so, according to an industry expert.

A conservative MP has accused industry and politicans of misjudging the UK pension crisis, saying the "real" problem is not pensioners who have lost all or part of their savings but the majority of young people who refuse to save.

Some 10,000 people will be hit by the Inland Revenue's proposed £1.4m lifetime limit when the new pension simplification legislation comes into force, according to the National Audit Office.

Proposals set out in the Pensions Bill could see IFAs having to advise their clients to leave their occupational pension schemes, despite that being exactly what happened during the last pension mis-selling scandal, warns an industry expert.

The Inland Revenue should change its latest proposals on death benefits, urges the Society of Financial Advisers, as the rules are both unequal in their treatment of different pension types as well as "too complex".

National non-smoking day, 10 March, is fast approaching, but it is not all bad news for smokers, as the Annuity Bureau is keen to point out.

IFAs could tap into a £11bn market if they would advice their drawdown clients in older style contracts to transfer to a new provider, says Scottish Equitable.

Many people saving for their retirement will not be any better off, warns the Pensions Policy Institute, as the money they have managed to tuck away will simply replace state benefits that would otherwise have been payable.

The government's Pensions Bill will NOT solve the current savings gap unless the final draft includes radical changes to Britain's entire pensions framework, warns the National Consumer Council.

Corporate IFAs face further competition from other "professional firms" if the government decides to loosen Financial Services and Markets Act rules regulating occupational pensions trustees' investment activities.