| Topic: | Re:Re:Brown's Mistake(s) | |
| Posted by: | Joe Conneely | |
| Date/Time: | 20/05/07 11:24:00 |
| "and he has destroyed the private sector pensions of millions of hard working British people." Well, for what it is worth there is an alternative view to Gordon Brown's impact on pension scheme funding through removing in his first Budget after Labour came to power, repayment of the tax credits they had received on UK dividend income since 1973. The alternative view is an equally fatal step was many employers and pension fund trustees across the 1990s gambling on rises in the stock market offsetting that loss and taking pension contribution holidays from continuing to fully fund their pension schemes. That mistaken 1990s view has been exposed with the fall of equity markets post 2000 internet boom; growing life expectancies; and, tighter acounting standards that require full disclosure of such pension fund deficits. The saddest part remains Brown's unwilingness (and indeed every UK political party) to require mandatory pension provision being made by every employee (with mostly employers funding)so people are more in charge of their own retirement planning. Such funds would be specific to the employee rather than their employer/the State/company pension fund trustees given the mess they have all made of it to date. Also the personal fund is ideally portable with every employee given the increasing lack of any careers for life. There are now a number of successful and variant models around the world (Australia, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore) that make the case more relevant. Sadly, the lack of UK Parliamentary initiative (all MPs valuable pensions rights and funding were neatly kept outside the recent law changes to pensions!)and the pension actuarial profession not showing much leadership and creativity on the issue means we are unlikely to see any critical step changes. |