Adrian Boulding: When too much caution is a dangerous thing

The strange and bizarre world of final salary pensions continues to throw up surprises. Open a newspaper at the City pages and you would think the schemes were in real trouble. Talk of deficits abound. The government has consulted on a Green Paper that asked questions about the affordability of pension promises already made, while defined benefit (DB) workplace scheme closures continue to grab headlines. Just recently, while reporting their half-year company results, another great British engineering company, GKN, announced its final salary scheme was closing to future accrual. Yet tu...