Commentary
Commentaries offer timely and concise views on a wide range of topics relevant to pensions, including economic and public finance news, financial markets and policy developments.
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A Poorer Future
Last week, youth unemployment ticked upwards again for the third month in a row and is now running at 20.2% according to the latest numbers from the ONS. That accentuates a worrying reversal in the downward trend evident in recent readings since the start of 2011.
Meanwhile this week, we learnt that the proportion of 18 to 24-year-olds in England not in employment, education or training
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The View from the Half-Century Mark
Yesterday, on the 4th of August, Barack Hussein Obama II – the 44th President of the United States – turned 50 years old.
Beyond his own accomplishments, however, it was a remarkable achievement for society.
Human life expectancy has averaged around 40 years for centuries and only began to increase significantly in the 19th century. It has been on an
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Two Centuries of Royal Weddings and Unsustainable Pensions
As the latest Royal wedding draws ever nearer, media pundits ponder how the monarchy has evolved in recent decades and speculate about the impact this latest generation will have on a very British institution. We couldn’t possibly add anything of note to these idle musings but it’s intriguing to see how another British institution – the pension – has evolved alongside over the course
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The Budget
- 24 Hours on, it’s time to take stock of the Budget.
- Simplifying benefits and taking more pensioners out of the tax net is good. The decisions to introduce a flat state pension and rise in the personal allowance are encouraging, and should go a long way towards providing a more efficient and equitable pension system. Sustainability, however, continues to
Tentative Steps…
- The last fortnight has seen some important pension-related announcements about a flat rate state pension for everyone and the recommendations on managing public sector liabilities made by the Hutton Report. Hot on the heels of these follows today’s Budget.
- Many will be watching to see how George Osborne walks the tightrope between growth and fiscal discipline, whilst others will
