Midnight on 31 December 2019 saw me enter my sixth decade of working in the pensions industry.
Just before Christmas I suggested that the FCA needed a new direction post-Bailey. It may already have found one although it is clearly not the direction everyone wants.
I love this time of year. It’s a time for reflection and opportunity. It’s a time for resolutions and goal setting, with January viewed by many as a clean slate.
The appointment of Andrew Bailey as the new Bank of England Governor today came as little surprise but it does open to door to opportunities for a new direction for the FCA.
The euphoria following a landslide election victory is probably not the best time to make long-term investment decisions and I’m sure many planners will have treated today as business as usual, partly because many of the fundamentals are the same as last week.
As we approach the end of another decade I have been reflecting on a subject dear to my heart – the evolution of the SIPP market.
Bristol-based Financial Planning firm Paradigm Norton became the latest firm this week to launch its own academy, this time a twist on the more general initiatives with a ‘Leadership Academy’ in partnership with University of the West of England.
As we near the end of the second decade of the 21st century, it’s fair to say the technological advances so far this century have been astonishing.
I recently attended the “Yes She Can” launch event, hosted by The Wisdom Council. I have to say that I find many of these female-focused events put me off. I am not a fan of positive discrimination and often that is what appears to be suggested.
In these days of remote working, video calling and cloud computing, it suprises me that actually getting together with other finance professionals remains not just popular but increasingly so.
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It’s been quite a year for me in my quest to apply life planning technology to civilisation.
I’ve always believed that when it comes to investing you should get what you pay for. If you buy an actively-managed fund you expect a smart human (and his or her friends) to be taking some wise decisions with your money. The personal touch, if you like.
I spent this half term in Poland with my youngest daughter who is studying philosophy and ethics and thought that she ought to visit a concentration camp to better understand some of her studies.
Today we received our questionnaire from the FCA regarding actions that now need to be taken following receipt of the information we provided to them regarding defined benefit pensions.