“‘Insult to millions’: Shell and Centrica profits cause outrage as energy bills soar”

Jul 30, 2022 | In the news

An independent (financial adviser’s) view

The theory behind re-privatising the utilities was that the efficiencies of the commercial world would sweep away the bureaucracy of public ownership and deliver cheaper everything for everyone. Anyone who’s worked in a big corporate knows that they have as many useless meetings and layers of middle management and as much profligate waste as the very worst of government. Apparently, Centrica’s huge profits come, not from the part which sells you energy, but that which makes it, so they can’t reduce your fuel bill. What utter tosh. If we can’t renationalise them, we should regulate all of these companies to the nth degree until they’re of no interest to foreign investors and private equity companies. I’d say. Come The Revolution.

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“Record year for annuity sales driven by advisers”

“Record year for annuity sales driven by advisers”

I was asked this week whether annuities are now ‘a good investment’. They’ve been recommended very rarely in recent years, since ‘pension freedoms’ allowed pretty much unlimited drawdown on pension funds and anything left to be passed on to beneficiaries free of Inheritance Tax.