Monday 6 April sees new pension freedoms, under which savers can take
their whole pension pot as cash, for spending on high-performance cars
if they choose
We’ll begin this week with a bizarre tale from Germany in 2009, when one James
Amburn, a 56-year-old financial adviser, was ambushed outside his home,
bound with masking tape and bundled into the boot of a car. He was
then taken by his kidnappers to a cellar in a Bavarian lakeside house,
where Amburn was chained up and tortured for four days.
What makes this story stand out, however, is that Amburn’s assailants were pensioners were seeking retribution for him having lost £2m of their savings. As Amburn admitted, after being rescued in his underwear by armed officers, it took the kidnappers a while to overpower him because “they ran out of breath”.
Anyway, the reason for retelling the tale is that 6 April sees the introduction of the new “pension freedoms”, which for the first time will allow savers to withdraw all of their pension as cash – and potentially spend it as they like.
Pensions minister Steve Webb memorably suggested that a few might blow the lot on a Lamborghini, although less trumpeted is the risk that scores of financial advisers might end up being kidnapped after (and let’s be generous here) they prove to possess a reverse Midas touch. Still, we’re probably worrying about nothing.
When the ruse is discovered, Michael Palin’s barber launches into a sob story about attending barber’s school: “Can you imagine what it’s like cutting the same head for five years?” he cries.
Which, if you’ll allow us a bizarre Pythonesque segue, might just about pass as a metaphor for the past few years on the monetary policy committee (MPC – not MPFC). The group will meet this week to decide on what to do with interest rates, and will astonish everybody if it decides now’s the time for something completely different.
Obviously the MPC has gone the whole five-year parliament without snipping – or raising – rates, so you might feel that David Miles and Martin Weale (who have served since 2009 and 2010) are ready for a Palin-style outburst, if not the lumberjack skit that followed. Canadian governor Mark Carney might not see that joke.
But will that stop the search for more business backers this week? Probably not.
The media and the main political parties still seem to believe that chief executives telling the country where they are planning to stick their crosses is of benefit and interest, with some sections of Fleet Street calling around the City and asking for a different boss to endorse the Tories “every day up to the election”. For reasons no one has ever properly explained, Labour always gets sucked into this game.
But why engage? It’s never entirely clear who these titans of industry are speaking for (their own bank balance, their shareholders, or, heaven forbid, their staff?) and the last time anybody checked, chief execs get no more votes than employees (fewer, if the boss hangs out in a tax haven). Anyway, do staff really vote on the basis of the views held by the gaffer? The opposite, maybe.
What makes this story stand out, however, is that Amburn’s assailants were pensioners were seeking retribution for him having lost £2m of their savings. As Amburn admitted, after being rescued in his underwear by armed officers, it took the kidnappers a while to overpower him because “they ran out of breath”.
Anyway, the reason for retelling the tale is that 6 April sees the introduction of the new “pension freedoms”, which for the first time will allow savers to withdraw all of their pension as cash – and potentially spend it as they like.
Pensions minister Steve Webb memorably suggested that a few might blow the lot on a Lamborghini, although less trumpeted is the risk that scores of financial advisers might end up being kidnapped after (and let’s be generous here) they prove to possess a reverse Midas touch. Still, we’re probably worrying about nothing.
And now for more of the same…
Comedy fans will recall the Monty Python’s Flying Circus barbershop sketch, which essentially revolves around a barber who hates cutting hair. To get around this handicap, the character employs a recording of scissor-snip noises and barber’s small-talk to convince his client he’s actually doing the job he was hired for.When the ruse is discovered, Michael Palin’s barber launches into a sob story about attending barber’s school: “Can you imagine what it’s like cutting the same head for five years?” he cries.
Which, if you’ll allow us a bizarre Pythonesque segue, might just about pass as a metaphor for the past few years on the monetary policy committee (MPC – not MPFC). The group will meet this week to decide on what to do with interest rates, and will astonish everybody if it decides now’s the time for something completely different.
Obviously the MPC has gone the whole five-year parliament without snipping – or raising – rates, so you might feel that David Miles and Martin Weale (who have served since 2009 and 2010) are ready for a Palin-style outburst, if not the lumberjack skit that followed. Canadian governor Mark Carney might not see that joke.
Votes for the boss?
So the Conservatives might already have bagged 101 votes in the election: the 103 “business leaders” who signed the letter to the Daily Telegraph last week endorsing the party, minus Lord Bilimoria, the independent crossbench peer who co-founded Cobra beer, and AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot, who have both distanced themselves from the stunt.But will that stop the search for more business backers this week? Probably not.
The media and the main political parties still seem to believe that chief executives telling the country where they are planning to stick their crosses is of benefit and interest, with some sections of Fleet Street calling around the City and asking for a different boss to endorse the Tories “every day up to the election”. For reasons no one has ever properly explained, Labour always gets sucked into this game.
But why engage? It’s never entirely clear who these titans of industry are speaking for (their own bank balance, their shareholders, or, heaven forbid, their staff?) and the last time anybody checked, chief execs get no more votes than employees (fewer, if the boss hangs out in a tax haven). Anyway, do staff really vote on the basis of the views held by the gaffer? The opposite, maybe.
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