V-FM: The Pensions Podcast
The podcast from Darren Philp and Nico Aspinall talking all things pensions and investments.
Episodes
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to XPS' Head of DC Investments Mark Searle.
As well as finding out what value for money means to Mark and how he got into the pensions industry we, of course, kick off by talking about the gig news of the week, the Mansion House Accord. We also chat pensions adequacy, at retirement solutions and investing in the US.
Enjoy!
In this episode of V-FM pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Fidelity International's James Monk.
As well as finding out what value for money means to James and how he got into pensions, the wide-ranging discussions covers: Mansion House and local investing, and a general discussion about UK economic developments; Trump's crypto play; TPT's announcement that it is planning to introduce multi-employer CDC; a report from the SPP u...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico spend time reflecting on some of the key pension and investment topics of the moment, building on comments from guests over the last few episodes.
We chat about Tony Blair's latest comments on climate change, the latest gossip about the next iteration of Mansion House and productive finance, assessing value for money by scratching the ITCH, next steps for collective defined co...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Nico and Darren chat with the Chair of Pan Trustees, Steve Delo.
Steve is a Trustee on many schemes and was chair of the People's Pension for 10 years from its inception (he had the pleasure of working closely with the podcast hosts for a good few years).
We take a trip down memory lane discussing some historical pensions issues that schemes and trustees are still grappling with, focussing on ...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Darren and Nico chat to Fulcrum's Head of Alternative Solutions Matt Roberts.
Matt takes the podcast by storm and rips up the usual podcast format by kicking off with his views on what value for money means to him...
We also cover tariffs, consolidation, zero cost equity investing, British Steel and... would you believe it... stamp collecting...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to NEST policy guru Philip Brown about all things pensions and all things policy.
As well as talking about the 100th anniversary of the Great Gatsby and celebrating Arsenal's 3-0 win over Real Madrid, we chat pension freedoms, market volatility, the role of NEST, Hymans proposals for reform of the pension system, CDC and a whole load more! We also find out how Phil got in...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico Chat to the PMI's new Chief Strategy Officer, Helen Forrest Hall.
Helen has been in the industry for 20 or so years and has just recently joined the PMI following a glittering career spanning time at The Pensions Regulator, the NAPF, and the DWP.
Helen is a self-confessed pensions and policy geek, and we get stuck into topics such as pensions and housing, TPR's approach to sup...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico pick up on some of the key topics from the last few episodes. Our one-one 'specials' have often been based around responses to consultations, but, in an evolution of the podcast format, once a month we're going to explore in more depth some of the issues raised on the regular podcast.
So tune in and hear about the Spring Statement and the role of the Office for Budget Responsi...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions hosts Nico and Darren chat to Money Alive co-founder Ian Beestin. Best known for his love of music and drumming - and his Thursday lunchtime drum quizzes during lockdown - Ian is helping to change the face of how pension schemes and providers communicate and engage with people in the digital age.
As well as finding out how Ian got into Pensions and discussing what value for money means to him (hint:...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren talk to Ruston Smith. Ruston was formerly Director of Pensions at Tesco and now holds several non-exec roles at pension funds, asset managers, private businesses and charities, and is the Chair of the Pensions Management Institute.
We, of course, talk about how Ruston got into pensions and what value for money means to him. We also cover many of the big topics affecting the pe...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat with accredited professional trustee, Paul Tinslay. Paul was previously a financial adviser before being a trustee and this comes through loud and clear in the podcast.
As well as chatting about Paul's career and finding out what value for money means to him, we discuss Make My Money Matter's closure, Fidelity's approach to pension defaults, the challenge around pensions ...
In this week's episode of V-FM Pensions, Darren and Nico chat to the ABI's Yvonne Braun and Aviva's Michele Golunska on the fringe of the ABI's 2025 Annual Conference.
We spoke to Michele and Yvonne straight after an excellent panel session looking at savings adequacy and longevity, continuing a wide ranging and in depth discussion building on the topics discussed during the panel. We chatted about pensions policy, adequacy, produc...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Benefits Consulting Leader at Gallagher, Mark Pemberthy.
A self confessed 'regular' listener to the podcast, we've been trying to get Mark on to the pod for a little while and it was great to have a chat about all things pensions.
As well as the staple topic of value for money, and, of course, finding out about how Mark got into pensions, we have a wide-ranging discuss...
In this episode of V-FM, hosts Darren and Nico chat to trustee extraordinaire and President of BESTrustees Alan Pickering.
As well as Alan giving the podcast a scoop about the renaming of Yorkshire, we discuss: the importance of balancing the interaction between regulation, growth and consumer protection; the thorny questions of governance and conflicts of interest in the pensions industry; and Make My Money Matter's annual review ...
In this episode of VFM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to LCP partner and PASA Board member David Fairs. David has had a long and distinguished career in the pension industry, including a 5-year stint at The Pensions Regulator as Executive Director responsible for Regulatory Policy, Analysis and Advice.
The pensions chat covers DB surplus extraction, Trump (again) and DEI/ESG, NEST taking a stake in IFM and People's Pension ap...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to Chair of the Pensions Regulator Sarah Smart.
In a wide-ranging episode we chat about a lot of things including diversity (spoiler: Trump was mentioned...), climate change and climate investing, the doomsday clock ticking ever closer to midnight, surplus extraction for defined benefit schemes and the role of trustees (which caused Darren to semi-rant about conflicts of ...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Darren and Nico chat to CEO of Smart UK, Jamie Fiveash. Jamie is a DC and master trust expert, is on the PLSA Board, and has had the pleasure of being Darren's boss, not once, but twice....
As it's our 101st episode (finally we've got a new numbering system...) we play a little game of Room 101... what will our guest and hosts consign to history (hint: first Brexit rant of the year from Darr...
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, hosts Nico and Darren chat to pensions lawyer extraordinaire, Robin Ellison.
Robin is not shy with his views on policy and regulation and the podcast takes a whistle stop tour through many of the issues the pensions industry is grappling with currently.
As well as welcoming the new pensions minister, we talk about Robin's foray into politics with the 'U' party, his views on regulatory policy and re...
A Happy New Year to all our listeners!!
In this episode of V-FM Pensions, Darren and Nico kick off the year with an in depth discussion of the UK Government's consultation on reforms to the Defined Contribution pension market. This consultation is part of the Mansion House package of measures published on 14 November 2024.
We chat through the main elements of the consultation including: the (flawed?) premise behind the Mansion Hous...
After a few weeks break due to illness, V-FM Pensions is back for a Christmas special where Darren and Nico chat about Pensions and the Mansions House reforms and look forward to 2025.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our listeners. Here's to a fantastic 2025!
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