Opinion

Of all the many consultations which the Department for Work and Pensions has been pushing out over the last few months, one which seems to have been slightly overlooked is the issue of protected rights.

It's nice to be back at my desk after a few weeks out and about. I've seen quite a few IFAs in the last few weeks about various different things, so if you had the displeasure of bumping into me thanks for your insight.

The BBC's Panorama programme recently featured the alleged payment of bungs (more politely referred to as ‘irregular payments' by the Premier League) to football managers.

Data on UK wealth and questions over the performance of equities markets moving forward are raising spectres suggesting IFAs could see more business than ever walking in the door, but with greater demands on 'proper' asset allocation.

In the last submission we touched on how there are many advisers who have recommended onshore bonds when the offshore alternative may have proved more effective.

If you know the answer, can you drop me a line and will pass over the details to a couple of my colleagues?

Another set of statistics about sales of pension term assurance was published yesterday, this time from HSBC which claims 84% of its life-only policies sold are PTA products.

Evolution. That short moment when a very unattractive monkey stops trailing his knuckles to give us what we have today.

Force Majeure is a phrase likely to be well-worn in future as the government seeks new excuses to cover up its failures to meet IT goals, including the area of pensions.

Perhaps it's just me, but I'm beginning to think that our industry should stop banging on about how commission only fails everyone.