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John Ralfe

  • Friday, 11 October, 2024
    Final salary schemes
    Collective schemes: a false dawn for pensions

    Intergenerational risk-sharing is a much-touted myth

    A member of staff scans a parcel at the Mount Pleasant mail centre in London
  • Thursday, 22 August, 2024
    Telecoms
    BT still has a big pension problem

    (And it’s got worse)

  • Thursday, 8 August, 2024
    Personal Finance
    The problem with auto-enrolled pensions

    Government must intervene on behalf of lower-paid workers

    Commuters at London’s Canary Wharf
  • 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
    Insight & 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
    Insight & Comment
    NHS doctor pension reform needs a fair approach

    A flat rate of tax relief would also simplify the rules

  • Thursday, 23 June, 2022
    Insight & 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
    Insight & 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
    Insight & 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
    Insight & 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
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