Trustee Report 2017

[fly-catchers]

Having read the lastest trustee report the matching assets have gone up by 47.2% and the return-seeking assets by 17.4%. Sounds quite good considering all the doom and gloom! And they say assets increase when money is paid in which means contributions from you and RM. And of course contributions from the Post Office section stopped from March 2017. And of course will stop completely when our plan is closed next year. But surely once no new money is being paid in,the scheme is even more reliant on good use of the existing money! Isn't it best to fund a pension which is still paying out and will be for decades than mothball for future contributions? Obvious RM don't want the risk but I wonder what would have happened if instead of closing to new members from 2008 and also having a more financial sazzy team onboard how the DB scheme would have looked like today?

[Spedley]

I saw that at the back of the pension thingy we got last week. Can't remember the exact numbers but about £7bn in total assets, £0.5bn paid out and £2bn went in. Doesn't sound like it is struggling to me.

[Lincox]

Pension Funds have rallied during the years of low interest returns on cash held savings and investments, because fund managers have taken the opportunity to invest more into the stock market and other assett based investments. It is probably true that because of the uprise in the underlying assets the employers have been able to reduce their funding. This is the problem with pension funds in as much that if the employer continued to fund the scheme when investment times are good they would not fall in to the trap of having to make good when there is a downturn in the stockmarkets.