The Pensions Regulator has sent a warning to some of the UK’s leading pension funds over their concerns that they are being too generous when offering lump sums to people cashing out of “defined benefit” retirement schemes. Their concern is that excessively generous playouts could damage their funds – and so impact upon remaining members. […]

How high a price are older people paying because of loyalty to their suppliers? Over £250 a year according to one recent extended trial. If you’re of a certain vintage, like me, you’ll remember the execrable “Tell Sid” ads back in 1986 advising the public to cash in on the upcoming privatisation of British Gas. […]

Thinking that you can fall back on your property later in life because your pension won’t be enough? You might have to think again. New research from Royal London – “Will Housing Wealth Solve the Pensions Crisis?” – examined the pension income and housing wealth of nearly 7,000 pensioners across Great Britain and argues that, for […]

A new campaign is underway to persuade the Government to stick to its promise and allow those who retired before 2015 to enjoy the potential benefits of pensions freedom. When the Government introduced pensions freedom, up to five million people who had already invested in an annuity were “left behind” – but the Government promised […]

The growth in pensioners’ incomes is currently outpacing that of those in work. But there are clouds on the horizon… Some good news for those deemed to be in a “pensioner household”: you are faring rather better than those still doing the 9 to 5. Last year the median disposable income of those in retirement […]

A new report shows that 7.6 Million of us are caring for a family member. Is that simply society working as it should… or is it holding back some people’s careers… and even their lives? Looking back, one of my most my most fascinating interviewees was Ann Widdecombe. Yes, she is as formidable as she […]

For years now, writers in the later life arena like myself have been talking about the never-ending rise in life expectancy. For years there was a golden rule: for every six years that passed, life expectancy rose by a further year. It was akin to “buy six, get one free”. There seemed no end in […]

The much lauded (or derided, depending upon your political stance) “Brexit Dividend’’ has reared its head again, in the wake of Teresa May announcing an additional £20 billion a year into the NHS from 2019/2020 – and pledging that the money we save from not being part of the EU will go towards that promised […]

  A new study by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that on average people aged between 70 and 90 only use less than a third of their assets to fund their lifestyles in retirement. Over two thirds still remain at the end of their lives. That’s fine if it is the intention […]

The Office of Tax Simplification (OTS) has called for an overhaul of the tax rules surrounding savings, pensions and life policies – arguing that, because they are so complicated and have so many bolt-ons, that they are deterring people from saving. Even some pensions experts, they claim, are baffled by the rules. In particular, many […]