A Thought About Pensions
Are the Unions attacking the wrong target in the Government over pensions?
If I look at my pension, it’s not as big as it could be and that is probably because the advice I’ve received over the years about it could have been much better in places. It has been managed by three or four providers, a couple of whom have been taken over. It is now being managed by a friend, who works for a respected institution, but getting it there involved large amounts of paperwork and slowness on the part of the previous company.
But I’ve been lucky compared to some of my friends, who have suffered downright incompetence, or were unlucky enough to have chosen the likes of Equitable Life.
So is the problems with paltry pensions, not so much the rules, but the management by the companies and individuals involved? I know this doesn’t apply to pensions provided by the government, but poor private pensions, must mean that there is pressure for everybody to come in line.
Remember too, that when pensions came in, it was expected that those receiving them would only live a couple of years at most. Now most live a lot longer.
But if you think the problems are bad here, then just look at some European companies, where pensions are funded totally from taxation.
The Anonymous Widower 
I agree that a lot of the problems are about the management of pensions by various institutions, also the fact that a great many people took out private pension plans as a result of bad advice
Comment by liz | June 17, 2011 |
I could give you a long list of institutions, I wouldn’t touch. But if I published them here, I’d get sued. I can say though, that I wouldn’t allow my pension to be managed by a company, whose shareholding was outside England. This was told me by a bank manager friend, who incidentally said to beware Scottish banks. But that was in 1980 or so.
That’s why I keep my spare cash in Zopa. It’s under my control and I can withdraw and deposit as my circumstances permit and change.
And then you have the scandal of annuities! Don’t get me started.
Comment by AnonW | June 17, 2011 |