Interesting curation of Blacktower Financial Management news

As the baby boomers hit pensionable age, the issue of pensions has become more important politically than ever before. This is a fact which has been reflected in the raft of changes that have been made by both the current and the previous government over the past few years. Baby boomers could be forgiven for feeling a little confused by it all and even retired expats with considerable regular savings are no different; pensions and pensions rules affect all.

Whoever you are, wherever you have settled in Europe and whatever the nature of your pension scheme – final salary or defined contribution – it is essential that you get advice regarding both your expat regular savings and your pension scheme; it can mean the difference between uncertainty and security.

Labour MP for Islington South and Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry has published an article for Politics Home in which she calls for greater pensions freedoms for public sector workers.*

Written as part of her failed leadership campaign, the article named five major policy areas she felt the party needs to address in the future: climate crisis, the NHS, Social Care, affordable housing, and pensions.

In fact, the article was largely concerned with the issue of public sector pensions as Ms Thornberry warned that the country faced a “ticking time-bomb” in respect of the sums which will become payable in future decades. She quoted a 2017 estimate which suggested that public sector pension liabilities had a £1.7 trillion shortfall. She said that the public currently spends around £40 billion a year meeting this gap.