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A not-so-well-kept secret

1 November, 2016 By WiC

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The great divide

19 October, 2016 By WiC

Britain’s intergenerational divide deepens as young adults look set to be worse off in retirement than their predecessors.

The vote to leave Europe perhaps captured the nation’s fractured mindset perfectly. Relatively few young adults voted for something that could ultimately deny them an automatic right to live and work in the EU. Moreover, their collective viewpoint stood in stark contrast to that of older generations, for whom issues of identity seemed to trump economic concerns.

Generational divides were once drawn along cultural and social lines. Baby boomers seemed to go against everything their parents had believed, in terms of music, fashion and philosophy. But nowadays the divide between old and young is just as likely to be denoted by expectations of wealth and prosperity.

Today’s 18–21-year-olds enter the workforce at a time of austerity, soaring house prices, student debt, and low wage growth. Even on optimistic scenarios it looks likely that they will make much slower progress on pay than their predecessors, challenging the notion that each generation will do better than the last.

Fair isles?

Recent research from the Resolution Foundation has found that a typical millennial1 earns £8,000 less during their twenties than those in the preceding generation – Generation X.2 Without real-term wage growth, a significant number of millennials have all but given up the idea of ever owning their own home. This is a particular source of discontent, especially as their own parents bought the family home relatively cheaply, and then locked in sizeable gains.

Meanwhile, older generations continue to see their retirement incomes rising. Prudential says that people planning to retire in 2016 expect to have an average income of £17,700 a year, the highest figure it has ever recorded.3

Indeed, perhaps nowhere is the generational divide more apparent than in the prospects for retirement. Younger workers are much less likely to have access to final salary schemes, and the starkly different contribution rates for those schemes compared with defined contribution pensions have obvious implications for the share of wealth across generations.

To compound the problem, ‘twentysomethings’ are starting their careers at a time when their pay is being supressed by firms plugging deficits in their final salary schemes that, in the main, protect benefits for older workers. This means less investment capital to help businesses grow, and less money available to invest in the pensions of younger workers.

Reality check

According to research from insurer Aegon, those aged 16 to 24 are hoping to retire with an average annual income of £64,000 a year, nearly six times the average income they are on track for. This aspiration comes despite the fact this would require a savings pot of nearly £1.9 million, a sum significantly greater than the pension lifetime allowance.4

Such expectations would be more realistic if more young savers were willing to take on investment risk, but in separate research from Scottish Widows, a staggering 51% of 18–29-year-olds believe cash savings will help support them, despite the experience of an ultra-low interest rate environment for much – if not all – of their adult lives.5 By saving their money rather than investing it, they could be missing out on potentially life-changing sums at retirement.

“I think younger generations understand that they could spend two to three decades in retirement, but they don’t necessarily understand the financial commitment required,” says Ian Price, Divisional Director at St. James’s Place.

Yet despite the gloomy prognosis, he believes there are reasons for optimism.

“Younger generations have very long-term investment horizons and greater opportunities to benefit from compound growth,” says Price. “Understandably it’s hard when you’re trying to get on the housing ladder, or pay off student debt, but investing into your pension early and often could make a huge difference by the time you reach retirement.”

The government hopes to plug the pensions gap through automatic enrolment – a scheme that places workers over the age of 22 and earning more than £10,000 into a workplace pension scheme by default. Although minimum contributions are currently a long way from being able to provide for a comfortable retirement, auto-enrolment should lead to better engagement with retirement planning.

Aside from the government’s efforts to tackle the issue of falling pension scheme membership, some families are starting to consider how to use their combined resources in the best, most tax-efficient way to benefit younger members. This may be to help them gain a foothold on the housing ladder, clear debts, or build a pension. But with the right advice and planning, transferring wealth to the next generation can be extremely rewarding in all these cases, offering simple ways reduce a future Inheritance Tax liability.

“We must ensure that younger generations are getting a fair share of the proceeds of economic growth so that we don’t end up with a society where the retiring population is poorer than the generation that went before,” adds Price.

To receive a complimentary guide to wealth management, retirement planning or Inheritance Tax planning contact Sophie-Jane Keelaghan on 07970 299980 or email sophie-jane.keelaghan@sjpp.co.uk

The value of an investment with St. James’s Place will be directly linked to the performance of the funds you select and the value can therefore go down as well as up. You may get back less than you invested. The levels and bases of taxation and reliefs from taxation can change at any time and are generally dependent on individual circumstances.

Representing only St. James’s Place Wealth Management plc (which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) for the purpose of advising solely on the Group’s wealth management products and services, more details of which are set out on the Group’s website www.sjp.co.uk/products.

1 There is no agreed standard on which years of birth fall into the ‘millenial’ category, but a 2016 report by Goldman Sachs defines millenials as those born between 1980 and 2000: http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/millennials/

2 Stagnation Generation: the case for renewing the intergenerational contract, Resolution Foundation, July 2016

3 ‘Class of 2016’, Prudential, 15 January 2016

4 Aegon.co.uk, 5 August 2015

5 Retirement Report 2016, Scottish Widows, September 2016

The Hallmarks of Effective Boards

19 October, 2016 By WiC

Boards are highly complex and full of ambiguous power relationships. An appointment to an executive or governing board is often perceived as the epitome of a distinguished executive career. It is the ultimate challenge to be effective in these complex environments – be it as a chairman who orchestrates the board, the CEO who has to ensure that the numbers are in line with expectations, or the member of a board or NED aiming to make their mark in the business world. If you report to a member of the board you will already feel this challenge; and you will feel it still, one stage back, when you report in to someone who reports to a member of the board.

Behaviours and actions on the board have a ripple effect throughout an organisation and its culture. So it is imperative that boards are effective and function well. Which begs the question: what are the hallmarks of effective boards? Through our research and the application of our evidence-based approach to conducting board audits, we have identified the following seven hallmarks:

Hallmark 1: The right composition of know-how and behaviours

It is crucial to understand how different areas of expertise, preferred group roles and personality styles fit together and complement each other. The most common error is when existing board members select people who are like themselves, thus ending up with a homogeneous group on the board. Diversity of people breeds diversity of thought; this is essential for long-term board success.

Hallmark 2: Utilising the strengths of its members

It is vital that individual members of a board understand their personal strengths and areas of expertise. Moreover, boards will perform better if each member has a keen understanding of how their strengths are perceived by their colleagues as well as the collective strengths of the group. Effective boards help individual members and the collective to understand their unique strengths and how they can be leveraged to implement and execute strategy and ensure lasting value.

Hallmark 3: Clarity about roles and responsibilities

Ill-defined roles and grey areas of responsibility are the norms rather than the exception on today´s boards. However, the hallmark of a really effective board is to have absolute clarity and transparency of roles and responsibilities. Regular updates are necessary to account for new roles or new areas of responsibility that need to be covered to deliver value and ensure strategy implementation.

Hallmark 4: Share a vision

Effective boards have a clear and common vision that provides orientation and guidance.

Hallmark 5: Ability to resolve conflict between board and management

Effective executive boards and their members understand how to resolve conflicts between the board and the next management level. Clarity about who on the board has good conflict management skills, and agreement of the issues that he/she should take ownership of, can really help to resolve issues.

Hallmark 6: Solid structure and organisation

The organisation of the executive board’s work depends fundamentally on the board secretary and the interplay between chairman and CEO. Effective boards understand how to organise and structure their work.

Hallmark 7: Regular reviews and reflections

Regular time-out where board members can connect, leaving daily work behind them and reflecting on how they have worked together, are critical for success.

So how does a board get from decent to good and then great?

There is no silver bullet. The best way is to have regular reviews that provide insights into each member’s perception and the perception of others across each of these hallmarks. We, as well as our clients, are often surprised how the perception of ourselves and others can differ. Furthermore, boards increasingly realise that they have to learn to keep up with the enormous challenges they are presented with. Chairmen can use the insights we provide to orchestrate their boards far better; CEOs gain insights into how to provide better leadership, and board members understand what exactly they need to do in order to develop their career and make a mark in the world of business.

Better Boards is an independent consultancy focused on developing executive and governing boards. The solid, evidence-based approach of Better Boards towards Board Audits has been through the most stringent peer review processes in the US, UK and Germany. Sabine has worked for and with leading Professional Services and Private Equity firms as well as DAX30, MDAX and FTSE organisations. She views board development as the next lever for value creation.
Contact Dr Sabine Dembkowski to discover how Better Boards can help you to make your mark.

Better Boards’ partner, Dr Sabine Dembkowski says

“At the centre of our attention is the individual leader. All of our services are designed to help him/her to create value in their visible and exposed roles.”

Visit the Better Boards website

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Do not hesitate to contact her with any questions you may have sabine.dembkowski@better-boards.com

Increase your impact in the board – three strategies get you there

23 June, 2016 By WiC

“Dr Sabine,” tell me “Do I look like father Christmas?” My client Paul (name changed) put a smile on my face. The 5.8 foot, slim, dark haired guy in his mid forties didn’t look anything like the guy we all know from the Coca-Cola ads.

I had to say he didn’t, and we were right in the middle of our coaching conversation …

The session was a sharp reminder of the mistakes executives, who are one or two levels below the executive board, make when what they intend is just the oppositite. They want to leave a good impression but more often than not fail to do so. Instead of using the limited time they have with a member of an executive board to leave a good impression they all too often fall into the traps and do what all their colleagues do.

In this short article I want to highlight three strategies that will help you to increase your impact and leave the right impression.

Strategy 1: Change perspective – put yourself in the shoes of a member of the board

The day of a member of a board in a large corporation is made up of 20 minute slots. It is by far not uncommon that s/he has 20 meetings in the diary in one day. People come, people go.

Paul was at the end of a long day. He could not think of a single person who he talked with who cared to put her/himself in his shoes and bring something of value to him.

He wanted to explore in his coaching session what he could do to educate executives how to best use the time they have with him. For him it was sheer madness how all these people choose to use the time with him. Paul described to me how he would have never dared to have a meeting with a member of a board and waste it to complain, ask for something and serve excuses for weak results.

He employed a simple trick.

Before any meeting with a member of the executive board he spent a good half hour to put himself in the shoes of the board member. What keeps her/him awake at night? What issues does s/he currently have on the table? Where does his/her pressure come from – investors, competition, suppliers, union …?

Once he was clear in his own head about the real current concerns of the board member he started to craft his key messages.

Stragegy 2: Think results and achievements rather than what you have done

Most clients want to talk about what they have done, how hard it was to get there, what obstacles they had to overcome and how they struggled with the limited resources. Over 80% of their thinking and preparation circles around the input factors and only 20% output i.e. results. This is exactly what Paul experienced.

Now listen to what Paul did before he was apointed to the executive team.

At the start of any project I was involved in I established the baseline. I worked together with other departments to get numbers on the table. At times this was not easy and quite tricky but I became friends with our Controlling guys and was always quite smart in making use of consultants who were running around in our organsiation (he laughed and had a twinkle in his eye).

When Paul worked on any project he tracked numbers and at times even created key performance indicators. This way he could always report actual results.

He then used the time he had with members of the executive board to talk about the actual results and communicated clearly how they relate to the issues that concern the member of the executive team (Strategy 1).

Strategy 3: Communicate concisely

Most board members are quick on their feet and can cut through the chase … they want the essence and not all the waffle. Focus on the key points and take the first two strategies to heart.

Because Paul put himself in the shoes of his board members and knew the numbers he could communicate concisely.

He described that this actually allowed him to get to know the board members as there was always time to talk about sports, holidays and the weekend. He even describd a situation where he looked at his watch, saw that he just used 12 minutes and said, “You know what Sue (name changed), I presented you with all the information why don´t you just take a little walk instead of listening to me.” He managed again to put a smile on someone’s face.

When I listened to Paul I can clearly see why he got where he is.

I would like to help people who are eager to develop their career, have an impact in the board room and leave the right impression. I believe that these three strategies will take you a long way and maybe get you even a seat on the table.

Contact Dr Sabine Dembkowski to discover how Better Boards can help you to make your mark.

Better Boards’ partner, Dr Sabine Dembkowski says

“At the centre of our attention is the individual leader. All of our services are designed to help him/her to create value in their visible and exposed roles.”

Visit the Better Boards website

Follow on Twitter

DC Universe – it’s not about outer space

6 June, 2016 By WiC

The ageing of populations around the globe is causing an acceleration in the shift to Defined Contribution pensions.

We all know, because we’re often reminded, that we are living longer. A greying society is not just a trend in the UK, however; it is a global phenomenon. According to the UN’s medium population projections, the number of people aged over 65 will rise from just over 600 million today to close to 2.5 billion by 2100.

Furthermore, over the next century, the growth in the number of older people is expected to far outpace the rise of the working age population, as the chart below demonstrates. The UK is on a similar path.

Source: World Economic Forum

Dramatic increases in life expectancy have a profound implication for politics and the welfare state; moreover we see many of the models designed to manage those systems start to come under pressure, or even unravel.

Workplace pensions are a case in point. Defined benefit (DB or ‘final salary’) schemes promise participants a highly predictable income in retirement, based on a formula linked to earnings and length of service. If you have a DB pension, your employer is responsible for funding the scheme and for ensuring there’s enough money to pay your pension income at the time you retire.

But the DB model has mainly relied on a broad base of young members to support fewer retired members. As the ratio of old to young gets bigger, not only does DB become more difficult to administer, it presents a significant financial risk to companies, governments, and other institutions.

Defined contribution (DC) pensions, on the other hand, require you to build a ‘pension pot’, with you and your employer putting money into your chosen investments. Unlike a final salary scheme, there are no income promises; the value of your pension pot is determined by the performance of your investments. Consequently, most of the risk is placed on your shoulders rather than those of your employer.

Off balance

Final salary schemes have long been giving way to DC-type plans as companies transfer pension liabilities off their balance sheet. In the UK, many final salary schemes have closed, and there has been growing participation in DC schemes brought about by ‘auto-enrolment’.

But the same phenomenon can be seen around the globe, as regulatory changes serve to accelerate the rate at which retirement markets converge towards DC.

Japan, for example, has one of the fastest-ageing populations in the world. It has a long history of DB pension plans, but the government is legislating to expand coverage of its DC scheme nationwide.

In the US, the move from DB to DC has been happening for several decades. In 1980, of those private sector workers who were in a workplace pension scheme, 60% were only covered by a DB scheme. But by 2006 that had fallen to just 6%2. Stricter funding requirements imposed by government have often been used to defend the closure of many schemes.

Great expectations

So how does the move from DB to DC affect people in the UK? Put simply, the government now expects much more from individuals in terms of having the expertise to manage their own retirement planning affairs.

You are expected to translate the value of your pension into income terms and make appropriate investment decisions; you must ensure you have saved enough to maintain your lifestyle over an unknown period, and you must understand costs in retirement to avoid an income shortfall.

Admittedly, a minority of people enjoy making such decisions, but the reality is that most of us don’t know how to manage all of the risks described above. New rules introduced last year, which give people the freedom to do what they like with a pension from age 55 onwards, only serve to increase the possibility of them making a mistake.

Building a pension pot and drawing an income from it requires you to manage a combination of risks, and demands a different mindset. In the past, individuals retiring with a final salary pension or annuity have generally only needed financial advice at the point of retirement. Going forward, those retiring with a DC pension will need to take financial advice not just up to that milestone, but throughout their retirement.

To receive a complimentary guide to wealth management, retirement planning or Inheritance Tax planning contact Sophie-Jane Keelaghan on 07970 299980 or email sophie-jane.keelaghan@sjpp.co.uk

1 World Economic Forum, 2 October 2015

2 Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences, 2011