V-FM: The Pensions Podcast

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...

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 unfun...

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, f...

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 tech...

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 f...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico catch up on a whole host of topics that are currently making the pensions news. We talk about Retirement CDC, Pensions UK Retirement Living Standards, the PPI Megafunds report, and start to unpack some of the key themes from the Pensions Commission's interim report.

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Sam Seaton, CEO of CAPA Data. Through CAPA Data, Sam provides the data platform behind the Corporate Adviser Master Trust and GPP Defaults Report, which takes a deep dive into the performance, asset allocation and structure of DC workplace pension defaults. We chat about pensions adequacy, auto-escalation, member engagement, legacy da...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Scottish Widows' Director of Workplace Jerry Butcher. In a very wide-ranging episode we chat about engagement, defaults, the use of AI, the FCA's Consumer Duty, the Scottish Widow's Retirement Report and the latest analysis from the Pensions Commission amongst a whole host of other things! We find out how Jerry moved from parachuting...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat with AF Advisory's Jasper Haak. We discuss the "Wet toekomst pensioenen", the Dutch "Future of Pensions Act", which came into force in 2023 and refocuses the second pillar away from defined benefit / ambition towards collective and individual DC. We chat through what this all means for the Dutch pension system from a member and investment...

In this episode of the podcast, Darren and Nico catch up on some of the recent pensions news. In a surprisingly fiery episode we throw out some difficult questions for regulators and the industry, alongside a fair bit of ranting... We cover: * The Pension Schemes Bill becoming law * The Pensions Regulator admitting that scale is not a guarantee of success * Bank of England warnings about the AI in...

In this episode of V-FM, hosts Darren and Nico are 'out and about' at the PMI's DC and Master Trust Symposium where we recorded an 'as live' session on Pensions and Housing. We are joined by Anna Brain who led a significant piece on research for NEST Insight and Schroders' Rich Fox who was involved in the Lifetime Savings Initiative, as we examine the evidence and debate whether pensions could and...

In this episode of V-FM pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Standard Life's Esther Hawley about all things decumulation. We hear about Standard Life's approach to helping people with the knotty challenge of how to turn pensions into income including segmenting members, the anchoring decisions around essential versus discretionary income, and offering a guided “starter” solution rather than sim...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren continue ploughing through listener questions, with a focus this time on how the system actually turns pots into pensions. We chat retirement income and pension freedoms; investment in the UK; pension dashboards; product innovation; lessons from Australia; regulation and what the future might look like. 

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico put themselves at the mercy of listener questions in this Q+A special (part one...) that lays bare some of the current and emerging fault lines in UK pensions... Listeners’ questions push Darren and Nico to discuss whether VFM is about member outcomes, system outcomes, or society at large? Pensions exist to pay money in retirement, and anythi...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Simon Chrystal, CEO of WPS Advisory. Simon's been on the pod before and we wanted to get him back on to talk about the evolution of his advisory business and some of the interesting stuff he is doing with the rollout of his LifeStage app. Simon reframes value for money as a practical, human outcome improving people’s lives rather than...

This week on V-FM, hosts Darren and Nico are joined by Philip Smith and Ruari Grant from TPT, a £11.5bn, 500,000-member hybrid powerhouse quietly shaping some of the biggest shifts in UK pensions. From mandation risks and the unanswered questions behind the £25bn scale test, to the real tensions inside the Value for Money framework, this conversation goes straight to the heart of the Pensions Bill...

In this episode of V-FM, hosts Darren and Nico chat to LCP’s Sam Cobley discussing the role of Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) in the UK pensions system. Sitting between DC and DB, CDC pools members with the aim of delivering a more stable retirement income, but requires savers to give up some of the flexibility offered by DC. The discussion centres on whether the potential income uplift is...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Now: Pensions' Samantha Gould. Samantha heads up Now's PR and campaigns and has been particularly vocal in campaigning about pensions inequality. We explore the structural drivers of the gender pensions gap and the wider challenge of under-pensioned groups. Samantha discusses her campaigning work since the first gender pensions gap rep...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico take a meander through some recent pension news stories. The pair discuss: Reform’s proposal to consolidate the LGPS into a single UK-focused sovereign wealth fund and shift new entrants from DB to DC, questioning both the investment logic and the politics; the government’s VFM framework, highlighting a core tension between a system measuring...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren welcome their first-ever podcast guest back to the show: David Butcher. They catch up with David to hear how his mindfulness coaching through Positively Aware is going and to get his thoughts on V-FM, trusteeship, and the insight he has gained from recent trustee experiences. David also shares a brilliant story about gatecrashing a festival…...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, Darren and Nico chat through their thoughts on the FCA and TPR's latest consultation on value for money (CP 26/1). In a must listen episode for anyone developing their response to the consultation, the duo's personal thoughts (not those of their employers...) include: This isn’t Value for Money it’s a performance regime: The consultation has morphed into a capital...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Pan Trustees' Nicholas Chadha to explore what value for money means in modern trusteeship. Nick reflects on his journey from actuarial adviser to professional trustee, and shares insight into schemes at very different ends of the spectrum, from those entering the PPF with recovery plans acting as a drag on sponsors, to schemes managing...

In this episode of VFM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren are joined by Claire Altman, who leads Standard Life’s work across pensions risk transfer and individual retirement solutions. Claire shares her brilliantly unconventional journey into pensions, from lawyer to trustee to commercial innovator. We explore what it really means to deliver value for money in retirement, why emotional certainty ofte...

In this episode of VFM Pensions, Nico and Darren are joined by "Red" Rory Murphy,  trustee chair, board adviser, pensions commentator and lifelong trade unionist. Rory brings a refreshingly different perspective to the pensions debate, shaped by decades in the trade union movement and hands-on experience of running smaller schemes. In a typically wide-ranging conversation we touch on the role of t...

In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to Kim Gubler. Kim wears many hats in the pensions industry, among them Managing Director of KGC Associates, President of PASA, and is an independent trustee Director of the Smart Pension mastertrust. Another wide ranging conversation that, as well as talking about horses and pigeons (only on the V-FM podcast....), focuses on the importa...