February 2019 CPD Event -Tuesday 26 February 2019 - A presentation by Peter Smith Professor of Economics & Finance, University of York

Peter N Smith Professor of Economics and Finance, University of York

Investment Strategies for Sustainable Income

The UK pensions industry is, like those of a number of countries, transforming from one dominated by Defined Benefits (DB) to Defined Contributions (DC) schemes. The transfer of investment and longevity risk to individuals is a challenge for all. The impact of these developments has been amplified by the ‘pensions freedoms’. Amongst the investment risks, sequence risk is an under-discussed issue. Addressing this source of risk opens the door to a durable and sustainable approach to the design of DC schemes in both accumulation and decumulation..

Learning points

• Risks in providing income in retirement
• DB to DC transfers
• Sustainable income in retirement
• Sequence risk
• DC portfolio diversification and smoothing
• Lifecycle pension planning

Peter Smith has been Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of York since 2002. He is Honorary Vice President of Money, Macro and Finance Research Group and has been at adviser to the Financial Conduct Authority, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Productivity Commission (Australia). He is Senior Adviser to Solent Systematic Investment Strategies.

In recent times he has published research on the importance of macroeconomic sources of risk in domestic and international asset markets and the significance and use of absolute momentum as an investment strategy in a range of asset markets. He has published research papers in 29 different international journals and in 10 books.