Opinion

IFAs were in uproar again this week and with good cause. FSA outgoing chief executive Hector Sants and chairman Lord Adair Turner both made speeches about the broken banking sector.

What matters most in determining your eventual retirement income when saving in a defined contribution pension? The answer is incredibly simple. It's all about saving as much you can, at your first opportunity, for as long as you can.

In the run up to April 2006, the UK Government remarked that they didn't feel S615 pension schemes would be relevant beyond A-Day owing to the extended membership eligibility of UK occupational pension schemes.

The long-term attractiveness of pensions for very high earners was put in further doubt as a result of the changes within the pre-budget report in December. Restricting tax relief to 20% on personal contributions and taxing these people on pension payments...

What happens if you mix red with blue - you get purple - and that just happened to be the colour worn by most of the Labour front budget during the budget.

Notes from the Budget: Alistair Darling does it very well. I've sat through many, and he delivers clearly, directly, smoothly.

Today's Budget may have seemed like a long, drawn-out, predictable litany of banker-bashing and pre-election tax breaks, but hidden deep among the tedium was at least one bold announcement - that financial capability is to be taught as part of maths GCSE....

Alistair Darling's third Budget is just hours away and, despite much industry speculation, we still have little idea what he might announce for the pensions market.

Interactive Financial Adviser

I'm not sure who is feeling the pressure more this week- Alistair Darling or Carlo Ancelotti.