The sun may have been shining over the bank holiday weekend but as everyone returned to the office the storms started to rumble.
This week has been a bumpy ride not just for the Prime Minister who announced he was suspending Parliament for the longest period in history, but also for those in receipt of the state pension, who will have already spent their entire allowance.
It's time for the week in news…
1 Funds have run dry
August 28 marked the day on which the average single pensioner will have spent their entire state pension for the year, despite there being four months left.
According to specialist retirement firm Just single pensioners face an average annual gap of £4,498, while couples must find an extra £8,710 from ‘state pension shortfall day’ onwards.
For couples, the day they will have spent their entire state pension allowance for the year lands on August 31, 2019.
2 It's raining money
Data from XPS Pensions showed defined benefit transfer values reached a record high in August.
The firm’s transfer value index reached £258,200 on August 21, compared with £247,400 at the end of July.
The increase was largely driven by a significant fall in gilt yields during the month, partially offset by a small fall in inflation expectations, XPS stated.
3 Landlords exit in droves
A record number of landlords are planning to sell rental property in the next 12 months as their profitability has fallen for the third successive quarter, according to research.
Research firm BVA BDRC’s Q2 Landlords Panel report found more than a quarter (26 per cent) of landlords were planning to sell at least one property from their portfolio in the next year.
This was up 8 per cent from the tally measured in the first quarter of this year, three times higher than at the start of 2015 (9 per cent) and the highest level of planned sales the report had ever measured (since 2006).
The most commonly cited reason for wanting to divest property was that it was no longer financially viable or profitable, followed by an increasing burden of legislation alongside "too much hassle/stress for too little return".
4 Scheme of last resort
More than 100 claims have been sent to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme against a collapsed adviser linked to the Greyfriars P6 investment.
Consumer Wealth entered liquidation in January after it received 13 Financial Ombudsman Service complaints against it. By July it had received 56 claims, but this number has now doubled.
The claims relate to the adviser's business with discretionary fund managers and self-invested personal pensions.
However, it has not yet been declared in default so no payments are currently being made.
5 Rocky start
The £13bn wealth management venture between Lloyds Banking Group and Schroders has had a rocky start.
Before launching properly it has already run into IT problems, resulting in staff complaints, it emerged this week.
Despite the technical troubles the platform is on track for its full launch in the fourth quarter of 2019, the firms said.
