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    John Ralfe

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    • Friday, 29 September, 2023
      Workplace pensions
      Peering at Eton’s £100mn bet

      Floreat hedge fundi

    • Wednesday, 6 September, 2023
      Fund management
      Jeremy Hunt’s pension plunder plan is bad business

      Big ideas for DB pensions look more harmful than helpful

    • Thursday, 24 August, 2023
      Pensions
      Interest rates and pensions: good news and bad

      Company schemes look more secure — but annual increase caps hit defined benefit payouts

      An illustration of a female in a blue power suit opening an umbrella. She stands amid contrasting sunny and stormy weather conditions
    • Friday, 12 May, 2023
      Advice & Comment
      Defined benefit pensions: not dead yet

      Schemes survive in the private sector and are still going strong for public sector staff

      London night-time office workers
    • Friday, 3 February, 2023
      Fund management
      LDI: What happens now?

      Lessons from the UK’s near-meltdown

    • Tuesday, 8 November, 2022
      Telecoms
      BT’s enduring pension problem

      The telco’s £40bn pension liability remains an albatross around its neck

    • Friday, 14 October, 2022
      Markets InsightPensions crisis
      Investigation needed to hold those behind UK pension crisis to account

      Taxpayers should not bail out companies that have been speculating

    • Thursday, 29 September, 2022
      Advice & Comment
      NHS doctor pension reform needs a fair approach

      A flat rate of tax relief would also simplify the rules

    • Thursday, 23 June, 2022
      Advice & Comment
      Collective pensions: there’s little protection in the crowd

      Policymakers would do better to focus on improvements to individual defined contribution schemes

      Royal Mail workers in a sorting office
    • Wednesday, 30 March, 2022
      Advice & Comment
      P&O pensioners should sit tight despite fund concerns

      Disturbing accounts of how much the ferry group owes its pension schemes

      The P&O ferry The European Causeway, docked at Larne, Northern Ireland
    • Wednesday, 8 September, 2021
      Advice & Comment
      Cut the gap between public and private sector pensions

      Reform now to reduce inequalities and taxpayers’ bill

    • Thursday, 1 July, 2021
      FT AlphavillePensions
      Collective defined contribution pensions are no panacea

      John Ralfe argues that Britain’s CDC pensions legislation needs to be made fairer.

    • Thursday, 9 January, 2020
      FTfmPensions crisis
      Britain’s railway mess will not be sorted until pensions are reformed

      Commuters to face more strikes as large retirement deficit looms

      Commuters attempt to board a full Southwest train at Clapham Junction station in London
    • Tuesday, 26 November, 2019
      FTfmBT Group Plc
      BT nationalisation: pension deficit is the easy bit

      The group could make a one-off contribution after selling Openreach to the government 

    • Thursday, 8 August, 2019
      Advice & Comment
      Here’s my solution to the pensions taper tantrum

      The highest earners should be paying more tax on their retirement savings, not less

      File photo dated 10/09/14 of a GP checking a patient's blood pressure. The NHS is experiencing a "worsening crisis" in its GP workforce, with four in 10 doctors wanting to leave the profession, researchers say.
    • Thursday, 6 July, 2017
      FTfmFund management
      The pensions regulator has played its weak BHS hand well

      When a company buys another, the retirement fund should be guaranteed, says John Ralfe

      BHS, British Home Stores, on Oxford street, London.
    • Wednesday, 5 July, 2017
      Final salary schemes
      What can people with final salary pensions learn from British Steel?

      How much to spend in retirement is the most complex financial decision

      A steelworker watches as molten steel pours from one of the Blast Furnaces during 'tapping' at the British Steel - Scunthorpe plant in north Lincolnshire, north east England on September 29, 2016. Thursday September 29, marks 100 days since the British Steel conglomerate bought the ailing plant from Indian company Tata Steel. In a recent interview, Gareth Stace, director of UK Steel, Britain's steel trade organisation said, "I welcome that they have brought the British Steel brand back to life. I think fundamentally it's a good and viable business and should have a strong viable future." / AFP / Lindsey Parnaby (Photo credit should read LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP/Getty Images)
    • Thursday, 18 May, 2017
      Final salary schemes
      We should all vote for MPs’ pensions to be reformed

      Losing their defined benefit scheme would put politicians on a par with constituents

      Members of parliament filter back into the House of Commons during the voting process
    • Sunday, 23 April, 2017
      FTfmIndustrial metals
      It’s zombie versus lifeboat for British Steel Pension Scheme

      John Ralfe considers the options facing the retirement fund’s members

      Steelworkers wait for British Business S...Steelworkers wait for British Business Secretary Sajid Javid (not pictured) to leave Tata Steel's steel plant in Port Talbot, south Wales on April 1, 2016. Prime Minister David Cameron's government faced damaging claims Friday that its push for closer ties with China is holding back efforts to save 15,000 steel jobs. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Ben BirchallBEN BIRCHALL/AFP/Getty Images
    • Sunday, 19 March, 2017
      FTfmFund management
      BHS deal shows UK pension regulation needs strengthening

      John Ralfe evaluates the agreement to salvage the chain’s retirement fund

      Pedestrians walk past retailer BHS (British Home Stores) flagship store on Oxford Street in central London on August 13, 2016 during it's last day of trading before the store closes. British department store chain BHS is to close with the loss of up to 11,000 jobs, administrators said in June 2016 after failing to find a buyer. The 88-year-old chain, which sells clothing, food and homeware, has failed to keep pace with traditional rivals such as Marks & Spencer and online giants like Amazon, resulting in a major loss of market share. The London flagship store on Oxford Street will close at the end of trading on August 13, 2016, all stores are due to close by August 20 according to reports. / AFP / NIKLAS HALLE'N (Photo credit should read NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP/Getty Images)
    • Thursday, 9 February, 2017
      Investments
      Don’t cash in your final salary pension

      Think carefully about the risks before giving up a guaranteed income for life

      NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 23: Traders and financial professionals work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, June 23, 2016 in New York City. Financial markets are bracing for the outcome of Thursday's historic 'Brexit' referendum, where Britons will head to the polls to decide whether the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
    • Sunday, 5 February, 2017
      FTfmFinal salary schemes
      UK public sector pension costs understated by £15bn a year

      Public sector defined benefit retirement schemes are unsustainable, says John Ralfe

      Royal Mail Plans Initial Public Offering Within Weeks...A Royal Mail Group Ltd. employee places post into a sack as he makes a collection from a double aperture pillar box in London, U.K., on Friday, Sept. 13, 2013. Royal Mail Group Ltd., the U.K.'s 360-year-old postal service, intends to hold an initial public offering of a majority stake "in the coming weeks" to help the company gain a competitive edge against European rivals. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
    • Sunday, 11 September, 2016
      FTfmFinal salary schemes
      Noisy lobbyists are shouting that the pension sky is falling

      There is no crisis in DB pensions, so there is no need for crisis measures, says John Ralfe

      Elderly pedestrians walk using walking sticks on Eastbourne Pier in Eastbourne, U.K., on Monday, Aug. 22, 2016. Pensions are looking like an economic time bomb for Britain, meaning investors had better watch how the nation tries to defuse it. Photographer: Matthew Lloyd/Bloomberg
    • Sunday, 19 June, 2016
      Fund management
      The UK’s system of pension regulation is called into question

      John Ralfe considers Halcrow’s deal with the Pension Protection Fund

      TORONTO, ON - AUGUST 28: An aerial view of the Lester B. Pearson airport as photographed from an airplane on August 28, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
    • Thursday, 2 June, 2016
      Final salary schemes
      Got a final salary pension? Time to steel yourself

      Negotiations over the British Steel pension fund should worry those with a defined benefit pension

      epaselect epa05328407 Steel workers protest in London, Britain, 25 May 2016. Steel workers from across the country gathered in London as the government continues to seek a buyer for Tata Steel's Port Talbot steel works. EPA/ANDY RAIN
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