Pensions and the EU

Sapphire

Has anyone heard about this (as well as about the EU's plans re. taxation for EU countries)?

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/681674/EU-CATASTROPHIC-state-private-pensions-expert-Brexit-referendum

Of course, it won't be reported in the pro-EU media, but I wondered what people's thoughts on it are.

uk1

It's an alarming scenario.

Jeff

Andy_L

I suspect BHS workers would have been in favour of increased pension regulations

Mr_Costcutter

uk1 wrote: »

It's an alarming scenario.

Jeff

Yes, but it doesn't surprise me one little bit. The wealthy will always be ok, but I dread to think what the future holds for those who are not.

warwicktiger

More Mail/Express scare stories.
Defined benefit schemes have been in decline in the UK for 30 years, the reasons are well documented. What the article does not mention is for example the French scheme, which has a salary related pension backed by the state. France is also technically insolvent!

Malthusian

Oh good, it's Cass Business School.

For reference, this is the same guy who five years ago said that no-one aged under 35 should have savings, and last year was calling for the government to reverse the pension freedoms and force people into "collective decumulation" (i.e. annuities) again. Blue-sky thinkers par excellence.

1. The EU wants a cradle to grave benefits system, which is alien to the UK. Er, not really, that ship sailed with Nye Bevan. I'm not a fan of it, but it'll take a revolution to get rid of it.

2. DB schemes have been closed because the EU forced them to pay what they promised. If they were allowed to renege on their promises to members as long as they made their "best effort", employers might have kept them open. Nonsense. A world in which the pension scheme doesn't know what it has to pay and the working joe doesn't know what he's going to get is not tenable. This is another ship that has long sailed, thanks to the efforts of Ros Altmann and others, and a good thing too. Modern civilisation relies upon people being able to rely on certain financial assumptions, like the fact that money in the bank is safe. And being able to rely on the fact that a guarantee is a guarantee is another.

3. The EU wants a common pension system and it's not going to happen. Good, we don't have to worry about it then.

4-6. There is too much regulation, we gold-plate it and we are at the mercy of people who know nothing about our pension system and don't care - agreed, no argument there. Although I don't agree when he goes on to imply that BHS should have been allowed to dump the pensioners in order to carry on running the business. No, see 3 above, BHS was bankrupt.

7. The ECB's quantitive easing damages our pension schemes. True, but so does the US' quantitive easing, and Chinese communist corruption, and everything else that's bad in the world. Or so they should do, if our pension schemes are sensibly diversified. If our pension scheme asset allocations are overexposed to EU incompetence that's our fault, not the EU's.

8. TTIP! Zzzzzz.

9. More of 4-6.

10. The EU is building up huge pension liabilities - true but so are we. If we get to the point where the EU is explicitly demanding more tribute from Britain to prop up its pension schemes; well, that would be the point where I'd want to be holding a referendum on leaving the EU, Leave might actually have a decent chance of winning that one. As it is, Remain would be entitled to say that we're no better than the EU in that regard and question how leaving is supposed to improve our situation.

I'm not a Remainder, but this is very weak stuff.

uk1

So you feel that every point he has made is a weak one?

Jeff

atush

I wasnt impressed with the quality of the piece.

But then again, I dont read the express

dunstonh

atush wrote: »

I wasnt impressed with the quality of the piece.

But then again, I dont read the express

People who read the express don't need to read. They can just look at the pictures. Typically a Princess Di one

Sapphire

Malthusian wrote: »

I'm not a Remainder, but this is very weak stuff.

Thank you for your opinion.

Andy_L

atush wrote: »

I wasnt impressed with the quality of the piece.

But then again, I dont read the express

The quality of reporting on both pensions and the EU is generally quote shonky, combine the 2 in the express and what do you expect