Wednesday, 8 December 2010

Category error?

I like this headline from Professional Pensions:
Shift from RPI to CPI spells £76.6bn bonanza for schemes
Well yeah, but can 'schemes' (pension funds) actually enjoy a bonanza? The reality is revealed in the first sentence of the story:
The government has calculated the move from RPI to CPI indexation for occupational schemes could reduce the value of pension rights by as much as £76.6bn over 15 years.
What we're actually talking about this is the value of something (pensions) being reduced, or if you want to be more company-friendly (as most financial media tends to be...) pension costs are being reduced. But it's a bit of a stretch to turn this into a 'bonanza' for institutions whose purpose is to provide/administer the benefits that are being reduced.

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