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On this weeks podcast, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by Emily Boxall, co-founder of 2Mins, the financial education app that's on a mission to make money matters fun, engaging and accessible to everyone. We talk about Emily's journey into financial education, what it's like setting up a business with her dad, and how games, humour and a cast of animal characters (including Petal the Hippo) might just succeed where traditional financial education has struggled. We cover: 🏛️ Mansion House Accord: is the latest progress update bit too much spin? 🦛 Making finance fun: how is 2Mins using games, animals and a bit of creativity to bring financial education to life? 🎓 Financial literacy: why do we make money and pensions so complicated, and are we getting the basics badly wrong? 🎮 Engagement and education: can gamification and bite-sized learning succeed where traditional pensions communications have failed? 🤖 AI and innovation: how is technology changing financial education, and what are the opportunities and risks? 👟 Value for money: what have a trusty pair of trainers got to do with financial confidence? We find out which 2Mins character Nico is, revisit the infamous Workie pension monster, and ponder whether the pensions industry could learn a thing or two from a cartoon hippo. And, of course, Darren provides his latest pensions dashboard update.... still no Civil Service Pension on the dashboard and the clock is ticking... It's a fun episode. Enjoy! Find out more about 2Mins at www.2minsapp.co.uk

In this weeks episode, hosts Darren and Nico reflect on a busy few days at the Pensions UK Annual Conference in Liverpool. From ministerial speeches to some lively debates on and off stage, there's plenty to get our teeth into. We cover: 🏛️ Politics and pensions: what did Torsten Bell and Helen Whately have to say? ⚖️ Value for money: could the new framework drive herding, stifle innovation and create more problems than it solves? 📏 Scale and consolidation: do we really need a scale test if we've got a functioning VFM framework? 💷 Pensions adequacy: is the industry ready to tackle the big questions on contributions, tax and retirement outcomes? 🔎 Pensions dashboards: Darren gets his hands on a live dashboard. But where's his Civil Service pension? We also reflect on the Beyond the Bottom Line fringe event hosted by Untamed Consulting and Moore Squared, question whether there's enough genuine debate at industry conferences, and wonder whether the pensions industry needs to get better at speaking truth to power. And, as Nico asks, why don't things just work? 🤷‍♂️ Enjoy!

It's just hosts Darren and Nico this week as we take a look at what's happening in the world of pensions. With the Pensions UK Annual Conference just around the corner, we look ahead to Liverpool and also discuss some of the big issues facing the industry. We cover: Politics and pensions: are new dividing lines emerging? Value for money: are we missing the bigger picture? Retirement defaults: can we really deliver good outcomes without understanding what people want? Private markets: are we backing Britain or backing the wrong horses? Inheritance tax: another complication in an already complicated retirement landscape. Plus, there's plenty of banter, a bit of a rant about private markets, and an unexpected appearance from Feargal Sharkey. All aboard!

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico talk to WTW Senior Director and Chair of the IFoA Pensions Board, Glyn Bradley. We start with the big news of the week... the triple lock and the question of what the state pension is actually for, before getting stuck into retirement income. Is an income really sustainable if it lasts for life but buys you less every year? Are pension illustrations anchoring people to the wrong numbers? And what does all this mean for guided retirement, CDC and the way we think about value for money? We also somehow manage to cover cricket, philosophy, Gödel's incompleteness theorem, and ship money. And, of course, we find out how Glyn got into pensions and what value for money means to him.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Will Sandbrook, CEO of the Centre for Inclusive Money (previously NEST Insight). An expectedly wide-ranging conversation where we chat pensions for the self employed, adequacy, side car savings, joining up pensions and housing, hopes for the Pensions Commission and a whole lot more. We also found out how Will got into pensions, the origins of NEST Insight, and also find out what value for money means to him.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Brian Henderson, who last appeared on the podcast back in its early days in May 2023 (episode #19). Brian returns to discuss his recent series of essays exploring the thorny question of how the pensions industry develops, and compares, retirement solutions. Nico's news story is about ‘P(doom)’, sparking an in-depth conversation about AI in which we even venture into the possibility of time travel... We then get into Brian's essays: what prompted him to write them and the conclusions he has drawn. At the heart of the discussion is a deceptively simple question: do we actually know what ‘good’ looks like when it comes to retirement solutions? There are lots of proposed solutions with considerable merits, but all involve trade-offs. Are we properly understanding, testing and discussing those trade-offs? And are we doing enough to understand what people actually want and need from retirement? We also catch up on what Brian's been up to since he last joined us. But if you want to know what value for money means to Brian, you'll have to go back and listen to episode #19...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat with the Founder of Nexum Pensions, Joao Cabral. The podcast focuses on the work that Nexum is doing to enable people to have a pension pot for life, giving choice to where people send their pension contributions. Joao is a true innovator - having been part of the Octopus Money team - and is developing technology solutions to help make this a reality. We also discuss industry pushback against the Government's general levy that funds pensions regulation, find out how Joao got into pensions and, of course, discover what value for money means to him.

The podcast is back from its summer break... In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat through some of the key themes from the Government's latest (hopefully last?) consultation on the new VFM framework. What's changed for the better? What's still cause for concern? What's missing? This season opener discusses all that and more.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to dashboard guru Richard Smith, in the last episode of the season before we take a short summer break*. As well catching up with how dashboards are progressing (we're getting closer!!), the podcast takes a trip up North from Kings Cross to Edinburgh as Richard talks us through the dashboard customer journey that is now being tested. * fear not, we've got a couple of specials planned...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to The Pensions Regulator's Ben Gunnee. As well as being an Arsenal fan, Ben is TPR's Executive Director for Market Oversight and is responsible for TPR's engagement and interaction with industry. In a wide ranging discussion we chat about TPR's Corporate Strategy, DB endgame and surplus release, Collective Defined Contribution, and some of the key themes in DC, picking up a discussion on private markets. We also hear how Ben ended up at TPR and, of course, find out what value for money means to him. The key question though... which the podcast didn't quite resolve... egg on pizza? Is Nico a lone egg man, or are there others out there?

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico are joined (again) by Matt Roberts, Head of Alternative Solutions, at Fulcrum Asset Management. As well as Darren ranting about FIFA and the lack of democracy in the UK, the podcast discusses resilience, value for money and why the future of pension investing is about far more than chasing returns. We chat about whether productive investment can help create a virtuous circle of stronger economic growth and better retirement outcomes, what the UK's shrinking public markets mean for DC savers, and challenge some of the assumptions driving the private markets debate. In a wide ranging episode, we also discuss natural capital, venture capital, governance, and systemic risk.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Mohammed Ali Yasin from Lunate Capital and Ghaf Benefits about the UAE's end of service benefits system and how it compares to the UK pensions landscape. We chatted through how the UAE system has evolved from paying expats (a significant majority of the UAE's population) a lump sum based on years of service with balances sitting unfunded on employer balance sheets, to one allowing contributions to be invested. We discuss with Mohammed what the future holds for the development of the UAE system, and, of course, find out what value for money means to him.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Hymans Robertson's Head of DC Kathryn Fleming. Kathryn is a PPI Trustee and co-chair of the Pension Equity Group's Data and Research Workstream. We chat about the work of the Pensions Commission, including the recent PEG report arguing that a financial safety net needs to be introduced to support any future reforms. We talk adequacy, fairness and affordability, and discuss what more employers can do to support better retirement outcomes. We touch on early access to pension saving, CDC, and manage to get in a dig about DC chair's statements. We also find out how Kathryn got into pensions and, of course, ask what value for money means to her.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by SEI's Head of DC, EMEA and Asia, Steve Charlton. Steve chats about SEI’s investment-led approach to running a master trust, and how the business has evolved from its roots as a technology firm into asset management and pensions. We cover some of the big issues currently shaping the DC landscape, including the role of AI and technology, Mansion House and the debate around mandation, private markets, investment philosophy, and the Government’s continued push for greater scale in DC workplace pensions. We also find out about Steve's career and how he got into pensions, and, of course, hear what value for money means to him.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by Paul Maynard, former Pensions Minister and MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys. In a wide ranging chat about pensions, politics and what really happens inside government, we cover pension dashboards, Mansion House, productive finance, consolidation, tax relief, the Pensions Commission and why policy often looks very different from the ministerial hot seat. Paul also brings a powerful constituency perspective, challenging some baked in industry assumptions as he does so. We discuss how Paul got into politics and pensions and, of course, find out what value for money means to him.