Personal Financial Planning
Assignment 2015/16
Guidance
I set out below some thoughts on how you could approach your assignment. These are designed to make you think about certain things,
but they are NOT prescriptive and some are far more important than others. If you want to approach things in a different way, then
that is fine (as long as you answer the question set!). Please bear in mind as well that there may be other areas worthy of discussion
that you discover through your research. Just because an issue is not mentioned here does not mean that it is unimportant.
1 Read the requirements properly
You have been asked to prepare an article not an academic essay and you should therefore consider:
• Layout / presentation
• Style
• Use of graphs / images etc.
Spend some time researching financial articles from the quality newspapers (e.g. The Times / Guardian / Independent / Daily Telegraph),
as well as the professional bodies’ websites (e.g. CISI (now merged with IFP) / CII / ifs) to see how the above areas are dealt with
and use your imagination in the presentation of your work. Be creative!
Your article is aimed at the readers of a quality newspaper, so think about how you would make it interesting and relevant for them
together with the type of language that would be appropriate for such an article. It would be sensible to assume that the readers are
intelligent and intellectually curious individuals, but not that they are experts on the UK pension regime.
2 What does “critical consideration” mean?
You are required to critically considerBaroness Altmann’squotation. This means that you should state to what extent you agree with it
and provide evidence taken from a range of sources which supports and counters the arguments within the quotation.
You will also need to come to a conclusion, basing your decision on what you consider to be the most important factors and justify that
conclusion.
It is therefore crucial that you consider all the issues raised and ensure that your article evaluates them all.
3 The key issues
In your article you are asked to focus on two areasthat intrinsically linked.
Some of the areas that you may wish to consider and research in more depth include:
• Why does Altmann believe it is important to incentivise? Do you agree or disagree? Would people save for the future without
these incentives?
• The Government is not just reforming private pensions, but the state pension as well. Is the state pension enough for a
comfortable retirement? If not, then additional planning will be necessary.
• In terms of the incentives that the Government offers, how effective are they? Could the Government do more? Are the incentives
being offered to the right people?
• How do you think incentivising can be best achieved? Should any incentives be pre-retirement or post-retirement?
• What has the Government done in the past that:
o Has helped people plan for the future?
o Has hindered them planning for the future?
o Are pensions / retirement planning too complicated for the average person to understand? Should they be simplified? If so,
how?
• You could consider the proposals that are on the table to reform pensions, for example:
o Reforming how tax relief is given
o Reforming when relief is given
o Pension ISAs
o Will any of these work, or do you think the Government should be looking at other reforms?
o Do you believe these reforms are actually necessary, or is the present system fit for purpose?
• You also need to consider what the impact might be of newly-introduced legislation, such as the new pension freedoms:
o Some commentators believe it might lead to people spending all their pension savings at once
o Others believe that it will make pensions more attractive to savers.
o What are your thoughts?
• What are the views of the professional bodies (e.g. ICAEW / CIOT / CII / CISI / ifs) on these issues?
We have covered many of the above issues in the lectures, but you will need to spend more time researching.
You should try and avoid too much description. For example, you may wish to consider the importance of the new pension freedoms that
were introduced in April 2015, but try to avoid describing in too much detail what these options are, but instead consider their impact
on the question at hand. It is the quality of your arguments which will determine the mark you receive.
Remember that ultimately you will need to link your research in the above areas to your critical consideration of the quotation.
4 Structure and style
In simple terms you need a beginning, a middle and an end.
Try and “grab” your audience from the start – otherwise they won’t want to carry on reading. In your introduction say what you’ll do
and why, develop your main arguments in the main body of your article – you could consider using case studies as examples. Finish off
by drawing your conclusion and your justifications for that conclusion.
5 Research
Please be aware that there is not a great deal of academic research covering financial planning as it is a comparatively new
profession. I am therefore not expecting you to find as much research from books and journals that you would for other subjects.
As a starting point you could look at:
The Government’s most recent consultation paper on pension freedoms and reform https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/freedom-
and-choice-in-pensions
The Government’s most recent consultation paper on reform of tax relief –
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/442160/Strengthening_the_incentive_to_save_consultation__web_
.pdf
Please note that there has been a lot of comment on both of the above topics.
6 Referencing
Although this assignment is not in the format of a traditional academic essay, nevertheless you should still reference your work
properly according to scholarly convention.
PLEASE NOTE: I expect your article to bebased on UK pension issues.
Oliver Princep
Room 4.21
1October 2015
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