V-FM: The Pensions Podcast

It's just hosts Darren and Nico this week as we take a look at what's happening in the world of pensions.

With the Pensions UK Annual Conference just around the corner, we look ahead to Liverpool and also discuss some of the big issues facing the industry.

We cover:

Plus, there's plenty of banter, a bit of a rant about private markets, and an unexpected appearance from Feargal Sharkey.

All aboard!

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico talk to WTW Senior Director and Chair of the IFoA Pensions Board, Glyn Bradley.

We start with the big news of the week... the triple lock and the question of what the state pension is actually for, before getting stuck into retirement income.

Is an income really sustainable if it lasts for life but buys you less every year? Are pension illustrations anchoring people to the wrong numbers? And what does all this mean for guided retirement, CDC and the way we think about value for money?

We also somehow manage to cover cricket, philosophy, Gödel's incompleteness theorem, and ship money. And, of course, we find out how Glyn got into pensions and what value for money means to him.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Will Sandbrook, CEO of the Centre for Inclusive Money (previously NEST Insight).

An expectedly wide-ranging conversation where we chat pensions for the self employed, adequacy, side car savings, joining up pensions and housing, hopes for the Pensions Commission and a whole lot more.

We also found out how Will got into pensions, the origins of NEST Insight, and also find out what value for money means to him.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Brian Henderson, who last appeared on the podcast back in its early days in May 2023 (episode #19).

Brian returns to discuss his recent series of essays exploring the thorny question of how the pensions industry develops, and compares, retirement solutions.

Nico's news story is about ‘P(doom)’, sparking an in-depth conversation about AI in which we even venture into the possibility of time travel...

We then get into Brian's essays: what prompted him to write them and the conclusions he has drawn. At the heart of the discussion is a deceptively simple question: do we actually know what ‘good’ looks like when it comes to retirement solutions?

There are lots of proposed solutions with considerable merits, but all involve trade-offs. Are we properly understanding, testing and discussing those trade-offs? And are we doing enough to understand what people actually want and need from retirement?

We also catch up on what Brian's been up to since he last joined us. But if you want to know what value for money means to Brian, you'll have to go back and listen to episode #19...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat with the Founder of Nexum Pensions, Joao Cabral.

The podcast focuses on the work that Nexum is doing to enable people to have a pension pot for life, giving choice to where people send their pension contributions. Joao is a true innovator - having been part of the Octopus Money team - and is developing technology solutions to help make this a reality.

We also discuss industry pushback against the Government's general levy that funds pensions regulation, find out how Joao got into pensions and, of course, discover what value for money means to him.

The podcast is back from its summer break...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat through some of the key themes from the Government's latest (hopefully last?) consultation on the new VFM framework.

What's changed for the better? What's still cause for concern? What's missing? This season opener discusses all that and more.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to dashboard guru Richard Smith, in the last episode of the season before we take a short summer break*.

As well catching up with how dashboards are progressing (we're getting closer!!), the podcast takes a trip up North from Kings Cross to Edinburgh as Richard talks us through the dashboard customer journey that is now being tested.

* fear not, we've got a couple of specials planned...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to The Pensions Regulator's Ben Gunnee. As well as being an Arsenal fan, Ben is TPR's Executive Director for Market Oversight and is responsible for TPR's engagement and interaction with industry.

In a wide ranging discussion we chat about TPR's Corporate Strategy, DB endgame and surplus release, Collective Defined Contribution, and some of the key themes in DC, picking up a discussion on private markets. We also hear how Ben ended up at TPR and, of course, find out what value for money means to him.

The key question though... which the podcast didn't quite resolve... egg on pizza? Is Nico a lone egg man, or are there others out there?

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico are joined (again) by Matt Roberts, Head of Alternative Solutions, at Fulcrum Asset Management.

As well as Darren ranting about FIFA and the lack of democracy in the UK, the podcast discusses resilience, value for money and why the future of pension investing is about far more than chasing returns.

We chat about whether productive investment can help create a virtuous circle of stronger economic growth and better retirement outcomes, what the UK's shrinking public markets mean for DC savers, and challenge some of the assumptions driving the private markets debate.

In a wide ranging episode, we also discuss natural capital, venture capital, governance, and systemic risk.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Mohammed Ali Yasin from Lunate Capital and Ghaf Benefits about the UAE's end of service benefits system and how it compares to the UK pensions landscape.

We chatted through how the UAE system has evolved from paying expats (a significant majority of the UAE's population) a lump sum based on years of service with balances sitting unfunded on employer balance sheets, to one allowing contributions to be invested. We discuss with Mohammed what the future holds for the development of the UAE system, and, of course, find out what value for money means to him.