Jumpers for goalposts: Why this era won't be remembered fondly?

Mark Lisle, compliance manager at Rowanmoor Pensions, thinks it highly unlikely future generations will consider these among the pension glory days...

I had the great pleasure of getting to know the late, great football player and coach Alec Stock through a previous role in the realms of association football. Alec was the eternal optimist, a superb raconteur, and lifelong devotee of the beautiful game, having been a lynchpin as player/manager of the Yeovil Town giant-killing side of 1949, and later a revered manager of Roma, QPR and Fulham (whom he led to the 1975 Cup Final).

Alec was affectionately credited as the inspiration for the Paul Whitehouse character Ron Manager, a nostalgic, loquacious commentator epitomising the halcyon days of football; a sentimental sentinel of better times: “Small boys in the park, twenty-a-side,” the character would say, “jumpers for goalposts, marvellous isn’t it?” One could be forgiven for thinking that it was a totally different sport to the one we know today.

Compare and contrast the transformation in the world of pensions from the 1970s until now. It would seem that legislation created opportunities for pensions in the 1970s, with the 1973 Finance Act creating the concept of the 20% director, and the Joint Office Memorandum No.58 establishing in 1979 the framework we still use for the SSAS today.

After the red herring of the possibility for including residential property investment was filleted, some would say that ‘A-Day’ simplification has actually restricted the opportunities in pensions moving into this century, but perhaps the earnings cap put in place by Nigel Lawson was a portent of the increasingly-tightening screw that has characterised legislation from the 1990s onwards (notwithstanding the creation of the SIPP at that time, which is a gift that keeps on giving today; the equivalent of a one-club servant, like a Brooking, Le Tissier or Giggs).

Now we find ourselves in a position where the lifetime allowance is about to reduce, the annual allowance has been cut to £50,000, and drawdown and scheme pension are now subject to the increasing scrutiny of the Treasury. But there is always NEST to look forward to, whenever that may be.

When future generations talk about the present, will it be with the same reverence? It is more likely that tales of dribbling wizardry will be replaced with fond recollections of WAG-driven Hello and OK spreads of celebrity-laced weddings, or lurid tabloid stories fanned by super-injunctions. In pensions we may need to have longer memories, as it would seem the game has not changed, but someone has taken the ball home.