GOPM RIP, long live.... ?

Sad that AHC have pulled out of their networking, in particular Grumpy Old Pension Men. But they have to concentrate on client work. I wish them well.

What next? It think the concept of GOPM is a good one. A tongue in cheek look at pensions news with some serious comment as well. And all in 5 to 10 minutes. It's still on Youtube if you want to take a look. So, maybe Brian and I can reinvent GOPM? Let's see....

In the meantime, as I've left AHC, this site has changed too. Pensionweb has gone, Pension Quirks has arrived. Pensions can be fun! Yes, really.

50 Up

Phew. We've made it to 50 editions of Grumpy Old Pension Men. Who would have thought?! When Brian and I started out a year ago, it was just a test programme, to try and prove it could be done.

A year later and the 50th edition is on line.

Favourite moments? Brian forgetting what he's talking about (common), Henry Tapper's larger than life appearances, presenting a pensions top 10 to the Top of the Pops music. And all the lovely comments.

Will we get beyond 50. Certainly! 51 is already recorded. And after that? As always, it's a week by week decision related to readership, time taken and pensions news worth discussing. Never any lack of the latter though!

Second Rate and More Expensive?

There was an interesting article in Investment and Pensions Europe magazine the other day. Reporting on an OECD review of pensions in Ireland, the OECD recommended pensions compulsion. They indicated that their view of Auto-Enrolment was that it was second rate and more expensive.

My initial reaction was one of scorn. After all, aren't these OECD bods from Europe somewhere, clearly not British. But having set aside my Britannia prejudices, further thought on their comment suggests they may be right.

Let's deal with the easier one first. Yes, Auto-Enrolment is bound to be more expensive than mandatory plans. All the opting in and opting out results in complex administration and, I would suggest (well and truly wearing my Grumpy Old Pension Men hat), it produces a good income to a lot of providers and administrators. One compulsory system is definitely cheaper.

Now the more difficult argument. Compulsion or Auto-Enrolment? In the end, I think it is more to do with politics than pensions, as is often the case. Thatcher destroyed compulsion. Blair put Frank Field out to grass when Field 'thought the unthinkable' - and it proved to be just that!

Australia, New Zealand and Chile were the countries Field looked at. It works there. It could have worked here. But too late now I think. We have Auto-Enrolment for better or for worse. More expensive yes. But second rate? Not necessarily. We have to face up to extended longevity, to the fact that 'pensions' will never be top of a young persons shopping list and push on through. It has to work.

Bigger, Bulkier…. And less in it? The New Look Professional Pensions

Professional Pensions magazine has undergone a design change. Less a newspaper, more a magazine now I’d say. A bold front cover in a magazine style. A couple of pages of weekly news in a format that looks to have been borrowed from Pensions Insight. And a ‘numbers’ feature that leans heavily on a Times idea.

My distress at the new design is not how it looks but what is in it. Page after page of lengthy articles. Much of it ‘old news’. When will we all have time to read this stuff? That’s assuming Professional Pensions stays as a weekly. It looks more like a monthly now.

But don’t fear, help is at hand… (dramatic music helpful at this point)…. Grumpy Old Pension Men has gone on to YouTube. Everyone can access it. Everyone can comment on it. A short five to eight minute weekly TV digest of pensions news, provided in a slightly provocative manner with a good dose of grumpiness.

 

Go on, you know you want to….. LINK TO GOPM

We're up and rolling.... the second 'Grumpy Old Pension Men' is in the bag.

In the mean time, the first one is getting some good reviews. See it here:

Grumpy Old Pension Men