This will not make up for the years of underperformance as the mess unfolded, nor for the failed expectations of those who believed they had bought into a double-digit guaranteed annuity. I got out with a 17.5 per cent uplift to my savings, deflated by a 10 per cent market value reduction. I have never regretted abandoning ship, especially as the clean-up saw some executives pocketing obscene bonuses.
Today, Equitable Life is a better run affair and the assets and liabilities have gradually been sold. But I have never understood why so many stuck with this flailing business. Sheer stubbornness, hope that things might get better, or perhaps, given that many had assets elsewhere, they just did not think it worth their while moving.
IPPR’s proposed new tax system would not work
A new tax system should be introduced, abandoning marginal rates but increasing at a slow pace as income rises. This single tax should cover all forms of income in the name of simplification says the Institute for Public Policy Research.
Our tax system has many flaws but this proposal has more. Pensioners would no longer be exempt from national insurance. And how would employers and pension companies operate a PAYE system when someone has multiple sources of income?
Taxpayers would be deluged with end-of-year demands for underpaid tax. Radical ideas are always well, but this is just ridiculous.
Tony Hazell writes for the Daily Mail’s Money Mail section
