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Posts Tagged ‘old age’

Closing the Stable Door

So yet another Defined Benefit Scheme closes to future accrual. The Alliance Boots Scheme has announced that it too is joining the exodus from excellent, albeit unaffordable, pension provision into the less risky (from the employers perspective that is) Defined Contribution arena.

Really we should not continue to be surprised every time a ‘household name’ takes this decision. It is as inevitable as the Brits losing at every sport they turn their hands too (except maybe cricket on a good day or snooker but the first is boring and the latter not really a sport at all – and is boring – hm, I detect a pattern developing…)

Operation Successful… but patient dies

In a ‘well who’d ever have thought it…’ kind of moment, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has announced that according to its research, final salary schemes are the cause of more misery for companies than…well…money purchase schemes.

For those of you who find the whole thought of pensions far too depressing and confusing (and let’s face it, that’s most of the population including several pension lawyers of my acquaintance!!) let me try and give a short guide to the difference.

A Rose by any other name…

Axa has announced that it is launching a competition to find a new name for “pensions” after a survey revealed that 18% of respondents associated it with “grey” and 72% of younger people associated it with old age. Well – d’uh…yeah!

It is perhaps this last statistic (or rotten lie -depending on your point of view) that is the most worrying.

The hard sad fact is that unless you have begun some sort of decent non-State pension provision by the age of 30, you are likely to retire in penury come age 65 (or 68, 70, take your pick).

Jennie Kreser heads up the Pension Law Unit at Silverman Sherliker advising sponsoring employers and Trustees of occupational pension schemes on this complex and evolving area of law. Jennie Jennie advises large multi-employer schemes as well as smaller single employer arrangements and has wide experience of both Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit schemes. Jennie qualified in 1986 originally as a criminal prosecutor. She sits as a Magistrate in her local justice area and is an Approved Chairman and Deputy Chair of the Bench Training and Development Committee. Jennie was formerly Legal Director of the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority. When her busy practice allows, Jennie likes to indulge her passion for travelling. To consult Jennie on any corporate Pensions matter, please call her on +44 (0)20 7749 2700 or send her an email by clicking below: Email Jennie