Feb 13 2007
How wrong the regulators and actuaries have been - they are keeping the pension funds in deficit
Over the last three years Pension regualtors and actuaries have been pushing pension?? funds to buy more and more government securities, and to sell more and more property and equities. They say funds have to do this to "match" liabilities.
Strange that. The liabilities keep going up because people live longer and inflation pushes up pension payments.Normal government bonds??often?? stay flat, and their income always stays the same.
??As a result, all those funds that took this rotten advice are now much worse off. Over three years UK property has produced a return FOUR times that of government bonds, and UK equities more than THREE times that of bonds.
The three years to December 2006 showed UK equities giving returns of 53.7% and UK government bonds 15.2%.
??Who said Regulators keep your pension safe? Over the last three years a combination of regulation and bad advice has kept many pension funds poor, struggling with deficits which could have been removed if they had invested more sensibly.
John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
And you will notice that the regulators, who are apponted and paid by the Government, have been instructing the pension funds to buy Government securities.
The Government would be very quick to call this ‘misselling’ if any IFA recommended purchase of securities from their employer.
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I have enjoyed reading your recent posts all of which I agree with.You have a clear and friendly writing style as well which helps.
You are on the roll of Arthur`s Legend who ,with me , carries the tattered pennant of Conservatism in Islignton. I hope you find it encouraging that so many bloggers are of your mind , more or less. Myself ,I have been wondering if we should organise ourlselves and ditch the chaff.Some sort of ten point q and A test to see if a given blogger is “One of us”.
Well it would at least annoy Iain Dale which is always good
Best of luck
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