In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to independent consultant and TPR non-exec director Alison Hatcher. In an episode that was recorded on the morning after England's win against the Netherlands we chat about the Euros, including a tweet from King Charles 'commanding' the nation to win against Spain on Sunday. We talk about…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Jorik van Zanden and John Mitchem. During lockdown, Jorik and John founded the 'Jasper forum' - a community of like-minded international pensions and investment folk who regularly come together to discuss common issues and learnings. A great initiative! This is the first episode in a t…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Smart Pension's Director of Strategic Delivery Eve Read. Eve has seen it all when it coms to pensions having done every role going at Mercer, before joining NEST and now Smart Pension. A fantastic chat where we cover the Euros, fine wine, singing, renting in retirement, pension consoli…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions co-hosts Darren and Nico chat to Standard Life's Mike Ambery. Mike is a pensions industry stalwart who has recently joined Standard Life after a long and illustrious career at Hymans Robertson. Mike is an Arsenal fan (he promised Darren use of his season ticket...) so he slots straight in to a quality chat about Ars…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to fellow Gooner and editor of Pensions Expert Nick Reeve. Nick joins us supping water (not Pina Colada) from a pineapple shaped glass from sunny Barbados for a great chat about pensions, journalism and, of course, value for money. It was nice to turn the tables on Nick and be asking the …

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to pensions industry legend and all round PR and policy superstar Tom McPhail. Tom is Director of Public Affairs at the Langcat and also is an external adviser at Guiide. This episode covers tax relief and the IFS proposals for the LTA, a good discussion about politics and pensions, fiduci…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to the editor of Corporate Adviser, John Greenwood. John returns to the V-FM podcast to chat about Corporate Advisers' latest Master Trust and GPP defaults report - an amazing piece of annual research that looks at performance of default funds and picks up on some key industry trends. We a…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren talk to Pangea founder Nick Stoop. As well as the usual V-FM chat we talk about the election, shareholder resolutions, pensions regulation, and the recent IMF report on the UK economy. We have a great discussion about what Nick is trying to achieve with Pangea - a pension that considers everyt…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to the Labour MP for East Ham and Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee Stephen Timms. Stephen has been an MP for over 30 years and shares his experiences and views on pensions and a whole lot more. In a V-FM Podcast first, this episode was recorded with a live audience at the D…

In this episode of V-FM: the pensions podcast, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Pentech guru Martin Freeman. Martin has seen it all when it comes to pensions technology and administration and has recently set up his own company to help schemes and providers deal with the considerable administration and systems challenges that the pensions industry fac…

In this episode hosts Darren and Nico chat to all round pensions industry legend Sally Bridgeland. Tune in to find out how Margaret Thatcher encouraged Sally to get on her bike, how James Bond style space lasers are nearing reality, and how Sally got into pensions (inducing a discussion on sexism in the city and some of the barriers that Sally and …

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, co hosts Nico and Darren spend an hour chatting about the news, life and some of the the themes coming out of the podcast so far this year. We also, of course, discuss Arsenal. We chat about AE contribution rates, transfer incentives, at retirement, politics and value for money. And we pay tribute to Frank Field, w…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Royal London's Director of Policy Jamie Jenkins. As well as being a star billiards player, Jamie is a bit of a pensions legend having led the policy charge at Standard Life and now Royal London. Jamie is a PPI trustee, PLSA policy board member, and was one of three reviewers looking at…

In this episode of V-FM pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to the CEO of Railpen John Chilman. As well as heading up one of the largest pension schemes in the UK, John is also chair of the PLSA Policy Board and chair of the Pensions Policy Institute's Finance Committee. We find out about a new Chechnyan law that means that this podcast will now b…

In this episode of V-FM pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to the ABI's pensions and long term savings guru Rob Yuille. Rob's seen it all in his 12 years at the ABI and, along with his team, has been instrumental in feeding in to the big pensions policy debates and discussions. A discussion that covers the plethora of changes coming into effect a…

In the latest episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Aviva's Managing Director (workplace) Emma Douglas. The usual canter through the V-FM staples of dashboards, productive finance, fees and charges and investments, is hijacked by some very important and timely health advice, a pop quiz on bamboo toilet roll, bin liners and, to top…

In this episode hosts Darren and Nico spend an hour chatting to the CEO of Make My Money Matter Tony Burdon. We talk about what Tony is trying to achieve (alongside Richard Curtis) with Make My Money Matter, his innovative campaigns (have you checked out Oblivia Coalmine...?), and the power that pension schemes and insurers can leverage in deliveri…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Executive Chair of Schroders Solutions James Barham. As well as the usual V-FM chat and a discussion about the news and topical pensions issues (including Jeremy Hunt's disclosure drive for UK pension funds and Hymans latest retirement research), we talk about the recently launched Life…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, Nico and Darren chat to the CEO of Pensions for Purpose, Charlotte O'Leary. This episode was recorded on the morning of Jeremy Hunt's 2024 Budget, so we had a bit of speculation, alongside discussion of some of the pre-announced pensions measures. We discussed the gender pensions gap, something Charlotte campaigns …

In this episode of V-FM Pensions Darren and Nico chat to one of the architects of auto enrolment in the UK and current NEST CEO Helen Dean. Helen talks about her role in helping to deliver the biggest pension reform ever seen in the UK and the creation of NEST. This episode has it all.... pensions, the need for scale, productive finance, wider savi…

In this episode of V-FM, the Pensions Podcast, hosts Darren and Nico spend an hour chatting to Joanne Segars. Having been in the driving seat behind the NAPF and PLSA for a number of years, and a stalwart of the pensions industry, Joanne now has an impressive portfolio career including chairing the Now Pensions trustee board, the LGPS Central Pool …

In this episode of V-FM, your hosts Nico and Darren talk value for money with Aon's Jo Sharples. An actuary by trade, Jo has spent her career in a variety of different roles at Aon and is currently CIO of Aon's DC solutions. As well as the usual V-FM chat, this episode covers the latest inflation figures and the PLSA's retirement living standards, …

In this episode of V-FM, Darren and Nico chat to Sir Steve Webb about politics, pensions and his time leading the pensions charge during his time as pensions minister. Steve was in post for 5 years and broke the mould of having a new pensions minister every nine months or so. He was instrumental in reviewing and helping to deliver the auto enrolmen…

In this episode of V-FM, the pensions podcast, Darren and Nico chat the Pension Policy Institute's Chris Curry. Chris is also Principal of the Pensions Dashboards programme. As usual, topics for discussion are wide and varied: labour's pensions review, DC priorities for 2024, consolidation, the PPI's Policy Wheel, state pensions, admin, data and da…

In the first V-FM special of 2024, Nico and Darren talk to Lord David Willets of Havant. Lord Willets served as Minister of State for Universities and Science from 2010 until July 2014, as well as being in John Major’s Government in the mid 1990s. He became a member of the House of Lords in 2015 and is President of the Resolution Foundation. This p…

In this season opener, Darren and Nico chat to Scottish Widows' Pete Glancy and Rob Cochran. We welcomed Rob back to the pod to talk about his Mountain Warehouse rucksack, and Pete joined us to talk snooker and fine wines. In the podcast we look forward to the year ahead and chat about the importance of communicating effectively. We talk Big Zuu an…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, Nico and Darren look back on season one of the podcast, picking out some of the key themes and talking points that have been raised by our fantastic guests over the past year. We cover value for money, dashboards, at retirement, Mansion House reforms, small pots and a whole lot more! Seasons greetings to all our li…

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, Nico and Darren chat to former Australian politician and now Super trustee, Nick Sherry. Nick squeezes in a cheeky reference to the cricket, but discussion quickly moves on to Aussie Rules (phew...!). Nick was Australia's first Superannuation Minister and has been instrumental in shaping the highly-regarded Austral…

In this episode of V-FM Darren and Nico chat to Paul Watson who has had a distinguished career shaping and helping deliver the Australian Superannuation system. We ban Paul from talking about cricket... but we cover loads of ground including illiquid investments, the mansion house reforms, dashboards, admin, net benefit and value for money, and pot…

In this episode of V-FM: The Pensions Podcast Darren and Nico have a great chat with Railpen's Caroline Escott. Caroline wears many different hats and, in addition to being a senior investment adviser at Railpen, is Chair of NextGen and a trustee director for the Standard Life mastertrust. We, of course, discuss aspects of the autumn statement. But…

In this episode of V-FM, Nico and Darren talk to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and governance specialist Uche Enemchukwu. Uche is a passionate employee benefits champion and co-founded Nelu, a US-based employee benefits consultancy. We chat the FCA diversity and inclusion consultation, research showing 'wasted' spend by employers through their em…

In this episode Darren and Nico chat to the People's Partnership's pensions policy guru Tim Gosling. Tim is a real policy expert, loves getting stuck into the detail and offers his views on a wide range of topics including the Covid inquiry, productive finance, small pots, pension levies, at retirement, and costs and charges. We also ask Tim what v…

In the longest episode so far of V-FM: the Pensions Podcast, Darren and Nico are joined by Richard Smith for 90 or so minutes of pure pensions dashboards delight. Richard kindly surprises Darren and Nico with a gift, gives an amazing (and unexpected) answer to the value for money question and chats through the latest dashboard developments, includi…

In this episode of V-FM: The Pensions Podcast, Darren and Nico chat to Will Martindale, co-founder of recently launched Canbury insights. We talk about Will's career, including at the UN PRI and a stint at Oxfam, and why he decided to co-found and launch Canbury. We discuss geopolitics, regulation, biodiversity, the MPs pension scheme and pension c…

In this episode of V-FM: The Pensions Podcast, Nico and Darren welcome Margaret Snowdon, OBE to the pod. Margaret has an amazing pension career and continues to be very active in the industry, most notably through her work on leading the good fight against the scammers. Margaret, just back from a break in South Africa where she was tracking leopard…

In this episode of V-FM: The Pensions Podcast Darren and Nico have the pleasure of chatting to Alistair Byrne from State Street Global Advisors. Alistair's seen it all when it comes to DC investment and has also spent time in academia researching and writing about behavioural finance. We cover DB transfers, mastertrust regulation, behavioural finan…

In this episode Darren and Nico chat to Liz Pfeuti, Chief Client Officer at Rhotic Media, about pension schemes and climate change, the general levy, illiquid investments and the general state of politics and policymaking. We also chat about value for money in DC pensions....By vfmpensions

In this episode of V-FM, the pensions podcast, Nico and Darren chat to Louise Farrand, former journalist, now a freelancer and Executive Director of the DCIF. We talk about Lou's time as a journalist and editor of Pensions Insight and how Lou views value for money in her life (and pensions). Lou also brings in a coupe of cracking news stories about…

In this episode of V-FM the pensions podcast, Darren and Nico chat to the CEO of WPS Advisory Simon Chrystal. A great chat going beyond pensions focusing on people and communication alongside with an impromptu game of Mallet's Mallet in celebration of the Pensions Attention campaign.By vfmpensions

In this episode of V-FM, the pensions podcast, Nico and Darren chat to the editor of corporate adviser, John Greenwood about what value for money means to him. In a wide ranging discussion, the trio talk about the state pension, pension scams, CDC, contracting out, and John's work in developing the 'CAPA index' as a way for the industry and others …

In this episode of V-FM Pensions Darren and Nico chat to Barnett Waddingham's Damian Stancombe. We talk about people's relationship with work, calls from an asset manager to increase pension contributions, the pensions walk and talk, and Damian's personal countdown to retirement. We also chat a bit about value for money. Cracking episode this one! …

In this episode Darren and Nico chat to professional trustee and former pensions manager Chris Parrott. As usual a wide ranging chat about all things pensions, from investing in the green transition, climate reporting, costs and charges impacting on investment returns, and Chris' take on value for money - which is all about quality. Great to chat t…

In this episode of V-FM: the Pensions Podcast Nico and Darren talk to industry legend Paul Budgen about... all sorts... We discuss the women's world cup, Paul taking a sabbatical to study theology, his chaplaincy work and his interest in sports chaplaincy, his time in the pensions industry and, of course, what value for money means to him. We also …

In this episode of V-FM, the Pensions Podcast, Darren and Nico talk to multi award-winning journalist Charlotte Moore. As well as having a pop at Nico for once wearing a cravat, Charlotte manages to cause trouble on the podcast on a news story about Monzo potentially entering the pensions market. We also talk fixed income, Mansion House reforms, su…

In this episode of V-FM, the Pensions Podcast, Darren and Nico chat to actor and Quietroom co-founder Vincent Franklin about investment, the state pension, his acting career and, of course, what value for money means to him.By vfmpensions

In this episode of V-FM, the Pensions Podcast, Nico and Darren chat through some high level reactions to the DWP's value for money consultation response. They also have a good old chin wag about the news, including transfer times, short term politics getting in the way of longer term policy development and concern about recently announced governanc…

In this episode of V-FM, Nico and Darren chat to Lou Davey from the Pensions Regulator about all things DC and value for money. Lou talks about how TPR is changing, how it is looking to drive better outcomes and its exciting agenda for reform. We also find out why Lou buys expensive trainers....By vfmpensions

In this episode of V-FM: The Pensions Podcast, Darren and Nico chat to the man with many hats, the one and only Adrian Boulding about what value for money means to him. The conversation centres around Adrian's work on Collective Defined Contribution, but we also draw on Adrian's significant experience in the pensions sector and as an actuary for a …

In this episode of V-FM Nico and Darren chat to Nathan Long from Hargreaves Lansdown. We weren't short of things to cover this week with the launch of various DWP policy papers - we discuss all that and more, including, of course, what value for money means to Nathan.By vfmpensions

In this episode Darren and Nico chat to the founder of Re-educating Earthlings' Mattea Pauc about the climate crisis and how Mattea's work aims to reconnect people with nature through education. Mattea is a self publisher of two educational books, and as well as covering her excellent work, we also touch on what value for money in pensions means to…