Since April 2010, the age at which women can first receive a state pension has been rising from 60. It is currently at 61 years and 5 months and is due to rise to 66 by 2020. So far, this change has played a part in increasing employment among those women directly affected by the reform.
Read more →
Research by Standard Life has evidenced that people in Britain’s baby boomer generation, now approaching retirement, say that their biggest financial regret is not starting saving for retirement earlier.
Nearly one in seven (15%) of adults responding, admitted wishing they had started a pension sooner, with the figure rising to one in five for those approaching retirement. Independent financial advisers have long warned about the adverse affect of starting a pension later.
Share and Enjoy
Earlier this month, the Office for National Statistics updated the ‘national shopping basket’ – the national basket of goods that the ONS uses to monitor rising prices. The big news for the headline writers was that ‘Champagne was out; e-books were in,’ as a nation struggling with the recession stopped celebrating and started reading books at 99p.
It’s easy to be flippant about the basket of goods, but the measurement of inflation is a serious business with serious implications – particularly for the UK’s older people.
Share and Enjoy
Given the Government’s recent introduction of Auto-Enrolment and the determination to see as many people as possible enrolled in company pension schemes, it was inevitable that they would also turn their attention to the state pension.
Pensions Minister Steve Webb has now introduced a White Paper setting out the proposed changes, which will come in from 2017 “at the earliest.” Inevitably with any change like this there will be winners and losers. Before we consider those here are the main points of the Government’s proposals:
Share and Enjoy
A minority of off-course punters who regularly put bets on race-horses make a living doing this, and some are very good at it. A report from the United States suggests that similarly in the field of investing in stocks and shares, there is evidence that a few amateur investors make a profit regularly.
However it is a reality that the majority of amateur punters in both fields of gambling do not do very well. In fact, a lot has been written on the behaviour of amateur investors thinking they can pick stocks better than the professionals – and failing to do so !