Editorial: It's been a mammoth week for pubs since the Rugby World Cup kicked off to a great fanfare. The drama and controversy has started already, with both dazzling and dizzying score lines seen from most of the groups so far.
The drama and controversy has started already, with both dazzling and dizzying score lines seen from most of the groups so far.
We had England beating Fiji 35-11; Ireland trouncing Canada 50-7; and Wales crushing a plucky Uruguay 54-9.
A lot of us particularly enjoyed seeing Japan’s surprise victory over South Africa with a last-minute try, only for Japan to then get a 54-10 rollicking from Scotland (yes, Scotland) on Wednesday.
When a team or individual sees a game slipping away from them on such a scale, despondence kicks in and it's all too easy to simply give up – something we often see in football.
But what’s interesting about this rugby tournament are the points incentives on offer beyond that of simply a win or draw.
Illustration by Ben Jennings
There are bonus points up for grabs elsewhere: in each match you can pocket an extra point for scoring four tries or more, and another for losing by seven points or fewer.
Incentivisation is as important in the middle of a journey as it is at the beginning. If you go off course, you need to see some value in striving to regain direction.
In the pension arena the incentivisation focus at the moment is very much on tax, with the consultation due to close within days.
We’ve heard arguments from all corners over which of the models on offer will work best: status quo, flat rate or tax-exempt-exempt. But the power to incentivise also has to be balanced with notions of fairness, as well as cost.
It seems to me that only those who already have a relatively good level of financial literacy would be incentivised by tax relief in the first place. But they would be in the minority, and less likely to be from the ever-underserved low-income backgrounds.
Leaving at the door any cynicism about the true motivations behind the tax consultation, what’s clear is that the industry needs to throw everything it has behind getting people into pensions and keeping them there.
Auto-enrolment has been a great start, but the industry must try harder to help people get adequate pensions over the line.
Maxine Kelly is editor at Pensions Expert. You can follow her on Twitter @MaxineEK and the team @pensions_expert
