Insights, Issues and Opinions
'Devil's in the Data' - Andrew Martin discusses integration at Altus Allsorts’
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Treating vulnerable clients fairly is ‘responsibility of all’
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The Ongoing Fees Dilemma: Adrian Boulding, Director of Retirement Strategy, is featured in a new MoneyMarketing Article
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Why the tapered annual allowance has to go
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CDCs could solve freedoms issue
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Transparent fees don’t make value less subjective
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Tax planning's blurring of the lines
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The Lifetime Allowance brings plenty of challenges
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Adrian Boulding: Difference between inflation measures balloon over time
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Adrian Boulding: Is 'ESG+IGC' a formula for pensions savings success?
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Adrian Boulding: Intergenerational financial differences move up agenda
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Adrian Boulding: Dashboard engineers must avoid pension's 'Great Stink'
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Adrian Boulding: CDCs offer alternative to threats of pension freedoms
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Blockchain: speeding up transactions, building trust and guaranteeing provenance to grease the wheels of commerce
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Adrian Boulding: Guiding clients through the complex pensions tax web
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Artificial Intelligence: Super-fast data crunching, pricing insurance policies and potentially curing cancer. The real question is - what problems can’t AI help with?
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Adrian Boulding: A ‘no’ to cash in drawdown policies
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William Burrows: Is this a platform for rediscovering annuities?
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Prospects are glowing for collective defined contribution schemes
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Drawdown investment pathways deserve another look
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Adrian Boulding: Personalising pensions to engage ‘Generation K’
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Adrian Boulding: Have the pension regulators really started listening?
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Millennial Money: Use tech as a 'fee-gap' for younger clients
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Vlog #5 - SPA Gender Equalisation
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How tech is reshaping the adviser fact find
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Dunstan Thomas mentioned in PensionsAge article 'the future is now'
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FTAdviser: Government blunder dooms pension dashboard' - features comments from Adrian Boulding
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Adrian Boulding: How realistic is asset manager charges transparency?'
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ProfessionalAdviser: Anyone not taking on younger clients is closing down'
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ProfessionalAdviser: Asset manager charges block pension cost clarity'
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FTAdviser: Transfer value cuts 'should be decided by regulator'
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Adrian Boulding: Annuity/drawdown mix makes retirement gold blend
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Adrian Boulding: A little (financial) knowledge is a dangerous thing
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FCA Retirement Outcomes Review measures consumer self-harm
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MiFID II platform 'paper storm' hinders adviser-client engagement'
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Adrian Boulding: Why IFAs should embrace robo-advice'
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Adrian Boulding: The multiple benefits of 'lifetime giving'
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Dunstan Thomas in the press: Call for artificial intelligence-driven pension dashboard
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New regulations on DB Transfers look set to put a further dampener on adviser participation but market drivers remain powerful
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Avoiding Income Over-Drawdown
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Building a Vision for the Pensions Dashboard
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Open Banking could mark the start of a new era of digital financial transparency which will impact every corner of personal finances from retirement savings to life assurance and beyond
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view old opinions
Old Opinions
15 November 2017
Pensions Dashboard could offer retirement income planning panacea for nearly half of Baby Boomers
8 November 2017
Only 1 in 10 at-retirees find paper-based Wake Up Packs useful and less than a third recall receiving them. Is it time for the Digital & Interactive Wake-Up Pack?
9 October 2017
Average Baby Boomer predicts they will work on into their 70th year
28 September 2017
Ensuring better retirement outcomes for DB pension transferees
18 September 2017
Adrian Boulding: How to bring the self-employed into AE
8 September 2017
Industry needs to stimulate savers to get back to pre-crash retirement income levels
10 August 2017
How extreme investment caution is killing off final salary pensions
14 June 2017
Retirement Outcomes Review final report is set to be published this summer. What will it say?
8 June 2017
Building Societies set to embrace Cash LISA
12 May 2017
The General Election – where’s the App for that?
12 April 2017
Andrew Martin, Chief Innovation Officer at Dunstan Thomas gives a session at the TISA and Corporate Comms Shop Joint Seminar entitled: ‘Robo-Pensions – The Digital Revolution’
12 April 2017
We ignore the very different requirements and behaviours of the ‘digital native’ millennial generation at our peril
11 April 2017
Providers and platforms investing in digital customer engagement are already winning millennials’ business, finds new Dunstan Thomas report
4 April 2017
Hammond Eggs in Mouth (not on face) Tax Raising Ideas
20 December 2016
Auto Enrolment faces the next challenge - reaching nearly 5 million self-employed
24 November 2016
FCA paper lays out tough communications challenges for LISA providers
7 November 2016
LISA offers potential to get more under 40 years’ olds saving but it also increases emphasis on getting communications right
24 October 2016
More complex retirement savings journeys increase need for customer engagement supported by advisers working hand in glove with robo-advisers
22 September 2016
Does the Pensions Advice Allowance enable more advisers to offer advice to a larger number of people?
12 September 2016
Sizing up the secondary annuity market opportunity
11 August 2016
What surprises will the 2017 Auto-Enrolment Review Bring?
11 July 2016
Brexit could accelerate innovation in pensions market but we need to get open data standards agreed first explains Adrian Boulding
1 July 2016
Away from the Brexit debate let's focus back on pensions - BHS collapse hands Sir Philip Green an opportunity to turn the tide on dismal workplace pension prospects which may otherwise become the norm
16 June 2016
Master Trust Consolidation will follow tightening of rules once the new Pensions Bill passes into law next year argues Adrian Boulding
17 May 2016
Key to Auto-Enrolment success is customer engagement as without it the epidemic of pensions under-funding will continue argues Adrian Boulding
16 May 2016
Customer engagement is closed-book providers biggest challenge
29 April 2016
Secondary annuity market will stumble if IFAs cannot be persuaded to offer consumers advice around these risky decisions
21 April 2016
Do Lifetime ISAs risk derailing Automatic Enrolment or can they remain targeted to help first time buyers build increasingly hefty deposits?
29 March 2016
FAMR opens door to resurgence of bank-based advice but are providers ready for greater fluidity of assets that will surely follow?
14 March 2016
Neat Tax Avoidance-linked surgery rather than pensions tax reform bloodbath is promised in Wednesday’s Budget
10 March 2016
RDR, Pensions Freedom and Online ‘triple-barrelled’ revolution, puts pressure on providers to improve ageing IT systems running legacy books
5 March 2016
How does Fintech, retail financial services, the world of platforms, ISAs and pensions fit in the era of the “Four Great Convergences”?
28 February 2016
FCA DP16/1 fires starting pistol on Big Think on how to re-engineer financial services market to better meet the needs of a rapidly ageing population
18 February 2016
Are low interest rates the problem, not the solution?
8 February 2016
The age's of usage for the forthcomming Pensions Dashboard
28 January 2016
Now is the time to set aside Pensions Dashboard fears & embrace data availability as new consumer right
22 January 2016
Could FAMR herald the return of commission-based selling leading to dual stream Retirement Disclosure regime?
19 December 2015
Public Accounts Committee inquiry into Auto-Enrolment will kick off in less than two weeks 2 December 2015
FCA Income Drawdown charges scrutiny looks set to increase disclosure requirements 18 November 2015
Public Accounts Committee inquiry into Auto-Enrolment will kick off in less than two weeks 4 November 2015
EET migration to ISA-style TEE pensions looks attractive on the face of it but the devil is in the back office detail 18 October 2015
Adrian's Corner - Don't mention the pot size 17 October 2015
For Gen Y pensions are far less of a hot topic than they should be 28 September 2015
Digital communications to unlock admininstration efficiencies and stimulate member engagement - AE initial success will stand or fall on the effectiveness of digital communications to stimulate member engagement and unlock admin efficiencies 7 September 2015
We need to find a way to provide decent financial advice to more than the sub-3% that feel able to afford it today - if Pensions Freedom is not to become Pensions Disaster 14 August 2015
Will the Financial Advice Market Review succeed where previous attempts to close up the widening advice gap have failed? 30 July 2015
Will Treasury pensions tax reform put the brakes on Auto Enrolment success? 30 June 2015
Improving Retirement Market Disclosure - Smarter Retirement Communications? 11 June 2015
Will the Pensions Freedom Genie Need be squeezed back in the bottle after all? 27 May 2015
As older workers champion Altmann steps up to head the DWP, we check industry’s reaction to her appointment. 7 May 2015
The middle ground between full financial advice and unregulated execution-only services still looks muddy even after the latest FCA finalised guidance 23 April 2015
Wake Up Packs are finished so what’s the next at-retirement communications silver bullet? 20 April 2015
Apps will be the past, they are the present, and will dominate the future. 15 April 2015
Choosing the right ingredients and blending them at the right time to bake a retirement income cooked to perfection is a tricky dish to get right. 15 April 2015
UFPLS is proving to be popular, but could it unintentionally damage the housing ladder? 10 April 2015
Freedom Day has come and gone but early reports suggests we are not seeing a rush to cash out just yet although the potential for bad choices and poor outcomes is high 26 March 2015
Budget 2015 offers a potential boost for the pensions and investment market, contrary to what instant headlines suggest 20 March 2015
Freedom Day Countdown 9 March 2015
FCA Consumer Spotlight: regulator’s miss-selling early warning device or new customer segmentation tool for all? 27 January 2015
Social Media: panacea for true interactive engagement or new set of ungovernable customer communication channels? 17 January 2015
Will Pension Freedoms just stimulate mass confusion? 16 December 2014
The Dunstan Thomas Group Winter 2014 -2015 Newsletter 19 November 2014
Freedom Day will boost UFPLS requests as well as income drawdown sales but is the market going to be ready for them? 27 October 2014
Blended retirement illustrations are coming by next April, but will the increased complexity make these documents impossible to understand? 29 September 2014
Abolition of Pensions Death Tax looks calculated to shore up older Tory supporter defections to UKIP but is also a boon for the retirement savings market. 8 August 2014
Guaranteed Guidance to hit advisers firms in coffers. 18 July 2014
Simplified Advice looks like a non-starter as FCA fails to define it adequately. 24 June 2014
FCA Finalised Guidance sets down rules of engagement for annuity comparison sites. 30 May 2014
UK fund charges comparison remains impossible nearly 1.5 years after RDR. 19 May 2014
At-Retirement Choices must be supported by definition of Simplified Advice. 28 April 2014
Workplace AE pensions charges will be capped. 15 April 2014
Inflation-Adjustment is now mandatory for pensions KFIs. 22 March 2014
It’s official...
no more compulsory annuities, says the Chancellor. 8 March 2014
Platforms still need to improve ‘re-reg’ and avoid over-charging inactive, non-advised clients, finds FCA Thematic Review of platform providers. 3 March 2014
FCA Thematic Review of the Annuity space reveals need for some market reforms but how much longer will we have to wait to put this right? 10 February 2014
D2C saw 23% growth last year. Will further growth come from new Guided Advice Rules? 8 December 2013
Income Drawdown maximum calculations remain stuck in neutral and poised for reverse as EU Solvency II pressures look set to push annuity rates lower. 11 October 2013
Anticipated 10-fold increase in S166s could well be fuelled by failings in Replacement Business processes. 23 September 2013
OFT workplace pensions study focuses on lack of level playing field for DC scheme charges comparisons. 7 June 2013
The FCA’s Policy Statement on Capital Adequacy Requirement could still prove to be a bombshell for the SIPP market if capital surcharge estimates are correct. 24 May 2013
D2C Platform asset growth prospects look rosy but how do you manage the compliance risks? 17 May 2013
Policy Statement - PS 13/2 further thoughts. 27 April 2013
Illustrations and /content/fs/issues/infographics 23 April 2013
Annuity market needs to modernise while it grows. 19 April 2013
Bank interest rate disclosure - confusion from CP 12/29 25 March 2013
Policy Statement - PS 13/2 some initial thoughts 22 March 2013
Customer service deserves higher billing even if regulatory change is coming thick and fast. 19 March 2013
Clarification on how USP transfers will be treated. 16 March 2013
Workplace savings demands long game thinking from providers. 14 March 2013
RDR looks set to cost the earth. November 2012
Changes in the Disclosure landscape detailed within CP 12/10. June 2012
Is the FSA demanding too much of Statutory Pensions Illustrations? April 2012
CIP migration could be another RDR-linked banana skin for IFAs, warns FSA Guidance. April 2012
The recent FSA Guidance consultation “Assessing suitability: Replacement business and centralised investment propositions” states examples of good practice are:
January 2012
BAS TM1 Version 2 signposts need for widespread changes to SMPIs. December 2011
Comments on RDR & Disclosure in CP11/03 and PS11/14 December 2011
Comments on RDR & Platforms in CP10/29 and PS11/9
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