Pension deficit
WHEN global investment manager Blackrock asked people what income they would need in retirement, the average answer was £27,500 a year.
Asked how big a pension pot that would require, they said £250,000.
"The real number is £550,000", Blackrock's James Charrington told a London conference last week.
"We asked the same question in Italy," he went on. "The answer there was €33,000 a year - and a pot of €77,000.
"If you believe that, we should give the UK to the Scots and get down to Italy because they have obviously got this worked out a whole lot better than we have."
You've been wonga'd
THE same conference heard from the Money Advice Service's innovation director Mark Fiander that MAS research on debt had uncovered a new verb - to wonga.
"In the 16 to 22 age group were those who said they had ' wonga'd for Domino's'," Mr Fiander said. They had used a payday loan to order a pizza.
But there was more heartening news from the 22 to 29-year-olds. "They went from giving it large to thinking that buying a pizza on Wonga was stupid, to trying to save and to make sure they hadn't completely destroyed any hope of a good credit rating."
Corporate blindness
INVESTMENT trust broker Winterflood has caused a stir by publishing a research note highlighting some of the issues which have been thrown up by the prospect of an independent Scotland.
It noted that 40 investment companies are incorporated north of the Border.
Unfortunately Winterflood accidentally left the giant £1.8 billion Templeton Emerging Markets Trust off its list. The trust's broker? Um, Winterflood.
Boardroom bingo
DIAGEO'S whisky brand Johnnie Walker made number 31 in the Fast Company's top 50 most innovative companies list.
Diageo tells us: "Specifically Johnnie Walker has been honoured 'for thinking globally, but pulling heartstrings locally', referring to how the brand consistently brings a core consumer insight to life at scale around the world: that everybody aspires to make progress."
The Bottom Line predicts there will be less success ahead for Johnnie Walker in the Plain English awards.
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