Opinion

This week has been full of suggestions for change in the pensions industry.

Deciding to enter an occupational pension scheme is a big issue and many people feel that once they've started paying contributions then their retirement planning is done.

Jean-Baptiste Colbert - the French minister of finance under King Louis XIV - is said to have observed "the art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing".

Last week I spent part of my holiday visiting Blackpool's illuminations.

Last week the government launched a pilot programme to offer children as young as seven careers guidance.

It has taken the worst financial crisis in decades, but policymakers are finally taking a long, hard look at exactly what they've offered retirees.

Just as I was becoming jaded by the number of companies trying to drum up free publicity by releasing surveys or figures pointing to the drawn out death of defined benefit pensions, along came refreshing research from Hewitt, which showed most companies...

I had the good fortune to be talking to my friend Con Keating, of BrightonRock fame, this week.

Some of you may well have attended the NAPF conference in Manchester last week.

In his opening speech at the National Association of Pension Funds annual conference in Manchester, chairman Chris Hitchen told politicians they should stop blaming pension funds for the crisis.