Week in review: Friday 15th May 2015

After all of the election excitement of last week, things have been a little calmer for the Informed Choice team this week. But only slightly.

Martin started the week with a recap of his weekend spent filming the GB TREC Team for a short documentary. Informed Choice – more than just Financial Planning!

Recently at the Spring into Cranleigh event, we asked children what they wanted to be when they grow up. We loved some of the answers, especially the little boy who wanted to be an elephant.

New pension freedoms introduced on 6th April have resulted in lots of enquiries from people wanting to move from defined benefit pension schemes. We wrote about how we have been approaching these enquiries.

Our latest podcast episode covered the election results, wasting money on unused subscriptions, Chinese interest rates cuts and the bursting sovereign bond bubble.

This weekend is the Informed Choice sponsored Cranleigh Parish Boundary Challenge, along with Nick making a trip to Wembley to support his football team, Bristol Rovers FC, in the play-off finals as they attempt to rejoin the football league after a season in conference purgatory.

However you are spending your weekend, we hope you have a good one.

Blogs

My weekend behind the lens

Martin spent the weekend behind the camera lens, filming the GB TREC Team at Woolgars Farm Cross Country Course in the Surrey Hills. In this blog, he writes about the experience and explains the purpose of the filming weekend.

What would you like to be when you grow up?

At the recent Spring into Cranleigh event, the Informed Choice team asked children what they would like to be when they grew up. We received some excellent responses which we list in this blog.

Accessing cash in defined benefit pensions

We’ve received lots of new enquiries since 6th April from people who want to access the value of their defined benefit pension schemes. This is not as simple as it sounds. In this post, we explain our approach to ensuring suitable advice is provided.

Podcast

Episode 023: Election Results, Forgotten Subscriptions & Bond Bubbles

In our latest weekly audio podcast, Martin talks about the election results last week and provides an update on how our client, Green Party candidate Dee Searle, got on in Tottenham. There’s also talk about wasting money because of forgotten subscriptions, cuts to Chinese interest rates and a rising sovereign bond yields.

Press

Advisers caution fund firms on pay

Martin urges fund providers to be clear about pay policies in this FT Adviser article.

Time for a systems and processes check up

Nick writes his latest column for Money Marketing magazine, telling product providers to get their act together and deal with declining service standards.