Financial Services Unplugged with Tom McPhail

The lang cat‘s Tom McPhail talks with industry experts and insiders about pensions and investments, regulation, technology, politics and policy-making . Grown-up financial services insights for people who work here. Tom is one of the industry‘s leading experts on pensions and retirement for over 20 years and former Head of Policy for the FTSE100 firm Hargreaves Lansdown. You can also find him on Twitter as @pensionsmonkey

Platforms, with Nick Raine of Soderberg

Nick drops in to talk about the platform sector, technology, Soderberg and doing things differently and about the new Platform Association

12-17
28:42

The investment episode with Ben Kumar

7IM's Ben Kumar talks with me about geopolitics, investment risk management, regulatory change and lots more

12-12
51:06

How the government is reshaping the UK's pension system

The Government has BIG PLANS for pensions, after the Chancellor's Mansion House speech we got to see a clearer picture of where they want to take us. Redington's brilliant Russell Wright joins me to reflect on the Value for Money framework and how it intersects with this next round of consultations...

11-21
46:51

The model portfolio episode

Alex Funk of Portfoliometrix and I discuss the world of DFMs and MPS, and the implications of the Budget and the US Trumpquake

11-19
39:15

News round up and an interview with IFA Nicola Ellis

A quick round up of all the many current retail financial services policy initiatives and a chat with IFA and cash-flow modelling aficionado Nicola Ellis of Wellington Wealth 

10-23
38:53

A cornucopia of pension news

Nathan Long of HL joins me for a rich feast of pension news: party conferences, the Value for Money framework, the government pensions review, the latest FCA data and a look ahead to the Budget.

10-04
47:56

The Behavioural Economics episode

Ryan Murphy of Morningstar talks through with me behavioural theory and some of the practical insights that can lead to better investing outcomes

10-02
39:10

Financial Advice in a Consumer Duty world

...in which Catriona McInally of M&G Wealth and I discuss Consumer Duty, Lifestyle planning, vulnerable customers, segmentation, ponies and the Scottish Highlands

08-29
34:36

Will pensions be Dashboard ready? Data quality, member ID and false passports

James Slevin of Target (targetprofessional.co.uk) joins me to discuss the challenges of pension scheme data management, the pension dashboard, member identification and...how to get a false passport...  

08-23
31:09

Adequacy and resilience - what are we aiming for?

The excellent Nathan Long of Hargreaves Lansdown talks through with me the Government's pension review, retirement adequacy and its complexities, financial resilience and the work they've done tracking it and we finish with a look ahead to the Budget on 30th October.  HL Savings and Resilience Barometer | July 2024 | HL

08-13
50:32

The Pensions Bill, the new government and insights from Australia

Mike Ambery from Standard Life joins me to talk about what the new government is up to and what he learned on his recent research trip to Australia

08-02
01:02:00

The Advice Gap 2024

The 2024 Advice Gap report is the definitive guide to the advice market, the dynamics of the sector and the impact of the FCA's Consumer Duty. Co-author and colleague Mike Barrett is here to explain all. You can download a copy of the report here The Advice Gap 2024 - The Lang Cat

07-09
36:33

A blueprint to fix the UK's pension system

Michael Johnson sets out a radical and thought-provoking vision for reform of the UK's state, workplace and individual pensions, with a view to simplicity and long-term sustainability. Pensions: a vision for the future - Social Market Foundation. (smf.co.uk)

06-22
01:22:36

What's the next government got planned for our income and savings

My colleague Alison Gay and I review the party manifestos published to date and consider the key personal finance promises

06-17
32:35

Letters of Authority, the worst pension admin problem that isn't being fixed

Scott Phillips of the Pension Lab joins me to talk about Dashboards, the surprisingly dysfunctional LOA system and what some in the industry are trying to do about it

06-11
23:21

Election pensions

Rachel Vahey of AJ Bell talks with me about the Triple Lock, the LTA, Pension Freedoms and the advice/guidance boundary review

06-06
42:18

Financial advice firms, recruitment, AI, DEI

FT Adviser editor Simoney Kyriakou and the future for financial advice firms

05-31
36:02

Everything you ever wanted to know about getting rid of the Lifetime Allowance but were afraid to ask

What should have been simple has proved to be anything but; HMRC has created a new way to inflict misery on unsuspecting pension savers. Jon Greer from Quilter gently explains everything we need to know. We also discuss what a new Labour government might do with the rules.

05-23
53:41

Collective Defined Contribution schemes are going to save pensions

Adrian Boulding makes a compelling case, not just why CDC schemes are a good idea but also, crucially how they are actually going to happen

03-14
47:39

Having fun on Budget Day

Tom Selby and I unpick the political, fiscal and personal finance fun and games of the Budget

03-07
32:48

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