The great British pensions debacle

The great British pensions debacle - at Moneyweek.co.uk - the best of the week's international financial media.

The Government has created a hidden pensions trap that will catch millions of us. Here's how to avoid it and retire rich.

We two things about pensions: they're complicated, but it's in everyone's interest to save for one. Right? Wrong. They're certainly complicated, but Government tinkering over the past few years means that even some of our large pension firms find themselves in the extraordinary position of recommending that most private-sector employees shouldn't contribute to a pension plan at all - it turns out that it is not in our interest to get a pension after all. Indeed, Steve Bee, head of pensions strategy at Scottish Life, goes so far as to say that most pensions plans should now be thought of not as tax breaks, but as "voluntary tax takes".

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James Ferguson qualified with an MA (Hons) in economics from Edinburgh University in 1985. For the last 21 years he has had a high-powered career in institutional stock broking, specialising in equities, working for Nomura, Robert Fleming, SBC Warburg, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and Mitsubishi Securities.