Britain's pension system is in a mess. A gap remains between the value of pension assets and the value of pension promises. The government shares in the blame for what has happened in the private sector. In his first budget, in 1997, the chancellor of the exchequer, Gordon Brown, ...
Back in 2006, the UK government had a big problem. Life expectancy across the country was rising, yet the number of workers enrolled in private and workplace pensions was falling. How could the UK support millions of people who lacked a pension big enough to see them...
It is generalized in the literature by counting financial inclusion complete once a poor person opens up a bank account (Chakravarty and Pal, 2013, Girón et al., 2022, Sen and De, 2018, Rugman and Doh, 2008). Bank accounts alone, however, cannot overcome the main barriers to inclusion,...
In terms of annual return, the difference between investing in shares in the U.K. versus the U.S. doesn’t look like that much: Averaged over the past 124 years, the annualised real return from equities3for a British investor is 4.8%. Over the same period, U.S. investors enjoyed a...
But don’t show too much sympathy. Listening passively to others’ complaints could damage your image and give others the impression that you agree with them. Whining can negatively impact on work productivity and even your health. This is similar everywhere. The Wall Street Journal reported in ...
Add pension contributions and employer matches if pensions are a factor in your plan. Gross them up to account for tax relief. Don’t add investment income and gains. These are accounted for in the return assumptions that follow. The number you’re left with is how much you should be savi...
Hi Lauren, thank you so much! I love your site, its amazing! I found it from the Top Expat Bloggers in Australia post (congrats by the way!!). Would absolutely love for you to share my post/blog with your readers!! Thank you!!! Reply...
I invested a bit more but I didn’t have as much left so I decreased the amount I put into the markets. A few days later, it got much MUCH worse. Catching a Falling Knife As the financial world collapsed, I kept putting more money in but I invested less and less each time because...
While there are significant savings to be had on items such as flatscreen TVs, my overall experience thus far means that in hindsight I would have much rather paid a little bit extra and purchased a new TV from one of the many retailers in my local area. ...
Snow fell to low levels over much of New Zealand and was reported as far north as Auckland. Chief Forecaster Peter Kreft's 'The Big Chill' running commentary and discussion of the event brought a record number of views to the website blog – including 15,882 visitors on 15 August alone...