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Stephanie Hawthorne

@stephawthorne.bsky.social
217 followers 295 following 131 posts

Freelance journalist: ex editor, Pensions World; FTAdviser columnist, People's Friend money correspondent, Mail on Sunday writer. Tennis and arts' fan.

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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
I'm trapped in a retirement flat with a £20k service charge. I fear I'll never sell www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
I'm trapped in a retirement flat with a £20k service charge. I fear I'll never sell
Hundreds of people contacted BBC News after a report found families were being left with service charge debts after inheriting properties.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Do you think the times is supporting Burnham or Starmer, judging by its editorial choice of front page pictures over the past week? And why?
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Reposted by Stephanie Hawthorne
@bsky.art @bsky.art · 02/02/2025
Welcome to the Artist Feed: Trending
bsky.art
Artists: Trending - Bluesky Feed
A general art feed showcasing artists from across the BlueSky platform. Sorted by trending.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Possibly an aggressive pricing policy by the Daily Mail at just £1.30 compared to the Daily Mirror & Express at £2. Haven't a clue what is the actual cost these days of producing a print paper but in other retail there is not such a massive difference. Why?
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Reposted by Stephanie Hawthorne
Mike Harrison @higheredactuary.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Who’s talking PENSIONS?! Please share the starter pack and encourage more debate here! @stevewebb1.bsky.social @sarabenwell.bsky.social @stephawthorne.bsky.social @henrytapper.bsky.social @marymcd.bsky.social @daviesofbrixton.bsky.social @josephinecumbo.bsky.social @prospectpension.bsky.social
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
mol.im/a/15281239 Some great suggestions to beat the budget by Jeff Prestridge
mol.im
How to stop Reeves' Budget wrecking your finances: JEFF PRESTRIDGE
Now is the moment to ensure your household finances and long-term investments are sufficiently robust to withstand Rachel Reeves' attack.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
www.ftadviser.com/budget/2025/... Article by me for @ftadviser.com @moorgatemermaid.bsky.social - Chancellor -don't just 'firefight' but plan for the years, decades and even the century ahead - pensions is an 80 year project-not 'a back of an envelope' Budget gimmick.
ftadviser.com
Long-term thinking needed for any Budget reforms
Government borrowing is the highest since 2020, according to the Office for National Statistics.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Calling all King's College London Students & Alumni tennis fans. Don't miss next yr's KCL Tennis Day -this Sept some 40 players, (incl me) gave their best shot(s) in a mixed doubles tournament at Redbridge preceded by a dinner at Queen's @suesearle @KCLalumni @stscsport @the_LTA
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
As we say a sad farewell to Summer, Autumn brings its own fruitful joys too: pictures taken yesterday from Telegraph Track in the London Borough of Sutton
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 20/08/2025
Heard about another possible duty for pension trustees to consider yesterday on BBC R4 - a very wide interpretation of ESG for pension property investors to include building aesthetically pleasing dwellings and public buildings. For me, build homes at least with enough storage space!
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
Djokovic now playing mixed doubles - US Open - now on Sky Tennis
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Can we help the burgeoning army of UK gig workers from journos to gardeners? A simple automatic deduction of expenses by HMRC based on average earnings rather than completing long tax returns may be better, I write today #tax #freelance www.ftadviser.com/tax/2025/8/7...
ftadviser.com
A ‘deemed expense’ system could better help HMRC close the tax gap
Around half of working-age people in the UK have the numeracy skills of a primary schoolchild, according to the charity National Numeracy. Yet the UK tax code is more than 22,000 pages long.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
UK homeowners may be “millionaires on paper” yet unable to afford to pay council tax and while their adult children can't afford to buy a home My latest The People's Friend Money Page features Lifetime Mortgages. Is raiding the "piggy bank" that is your home advisable?
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
A great book by former Pensions World and Cambridge University alumnus Mic Wright
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Reposted by Stephanie Hawthorne
Mic Wright @brokenbottleboy.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
My book came out last week. My author copies just arrived today. My small study now looks like a very egotistical warehouse. You too can join the craze for owning this book geni.us/BreakingMicW...
A box full of the book Breaking: How The Media Works, When it Doesn’t, And Why it Matters
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 05/07/2025
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
How fake-will fraudsters steal millions from the dead
A trail of suspicious wills led to an organised gang committing fraud and stealing millions from dead people's estates.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Deer in Bushey Park in South West London today. Now on my way to the WTW Media awards party tonight.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Are there tooo many isa types. They need reform and simplification. Few journalists can sum up every option and caveat in 600 words - pity the poor consumer navigating this' minefield' with Pooh traps a plenty. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Does anyone have a telephone number of the LTA tennis as I think my friend may have landed on a clone bogus site. We tried the LTA number ending in 7000 but just got a recorded message. #pensionscams
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Britain’s MI6 spy agency promotes ‘Q’ to be first female head  - a another splinter in the glass ceiling
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Reposted by Stephanie Hawthorne
Emma Mitchell @silverpebble2.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
Our brains love the colour gradation in rainbows, maybe due to our ancestors searching for sources of water. Looking at plants helps us recover from stress & looking at something we think is beautiful causes dopamine release. I've posted this photo to alter your brain biochemistry for the better 🌿
An rainbow arrangement of garden flowers placed on white fabric
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Here is my June Op Ed for @ftadviser.com - hope it produces a few fireworks! @moorgatemermaid.bsky.social I am already working on the July op Ed with some interesting tax angles - I welcome input from tax specialists: www.ftadviser.com/pensions/202...
ftadviser.com
‘Is Britain ready for a large cohort of workers in their 60s and beyond?’
The retirement age in Denmark will be a record-breaking 70 from 2040. Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden are also all set to raise their state pension age to 70 according to new OECD research....
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
France is ready to fight pension reforms for its long retirement www.thetimes.com/article/ac78...
thetimes.com
France is ready to fight pension reforms for its long retirement
The Council on Retirement Policy has warned that the country’s state pension system could collapse unless the pension age from 64 to 66
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
For anyone interested in longevity, later life or why we age: 'Why we die' is a highly readable book - its first 250 pages makes complex science accessible to the layman. The 2nd half (for nerds) are sources. Author Nobel Prize winner Venki Ramakrishnan deserves every accolade.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
1 in 5 people save in current a/cs and have no deposit a/cs at all and £300bn languishes in a/cs earns less than 2% interest. Read my latest @TheFriendMag double page spread on online savings platforms (7 June issue) to make the most of your funds. Out in all good superstores and WH Smith now
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
www.theguardian.com/money/2025/m...
theguardian.com
‘Ludicrous and unfair’: older workers react to pressure to delay retirement
IMF is urging countries globally to act to ease stress on public finances, sparking mainly outrage but also support
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Denmark to raise retirement age to highest in Europe
From 2040, Danish people born after 31 December 1970 will be eligible to retire at 70 years old.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... one answer would be flexible easy access workplace savings vehicles aka savings sidecars linked to auto enrolment pensions. Check out my article for @profpensions.bsky.social on this @jonstapleton.bsky.social @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social
bbc.co.uk
One in 10 Britons have no savings, UK financial regulator says
Stress and anxiety among those with debts remains high but help is available, a major survey finds.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
City wrangles over plan to get pension funds to invest more in the UK www.thetimes.com/article/419a...
thetimes.com
City wrangles over plan to get pension funds to invest more in the UK
Landmark agreement has been delayed amid concerns over ambition for pension funds to invest 10 per cent of their assets in fast-growing companies
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
www.ftadviser.com/pension-dash... - my monthly column for @ftadviser.com is published today. The pensions dashboard must be pitch perfect else American giants Apple or Amazon will muscle in on the UK's £3 trillion pensions industry @moorgatemermaid.bsky.social
ftadviser.com
‘Dashboard needs huge ad campaign to succeed as pensions poster child’
This week marks a minor milestone, with 20 volunteer major pension players now connected to the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
My latest monthly money page for The People's Friend - out now in all good superstores and newsagents.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
DWP to overhaul carer’s allowance checks after overpayment scandal - see today's Guardian
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
www.telegraph.co.uk/money/pensio...
telegraph.co.uk
Millions of pensions at risk under Reeves’s new £40bn tax grab
Treasury in line for windfall from Chancellor’s plan to let firms raid retirement pots
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
www.ftadviser.com/retirement-i... my latest monthly column for @ftadviser.com @moorgatemermaid.bsky.social
ftadviser.com
‘Govt needs joined-up approach to savers’ money’
People in their 40s face peak pensioner poverty by the time they retire in 2042 and beyond. Worryingly, 17 years is just a twinkling of an eye when it comes to retirement planning. And a question mark...
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Reposted by Stephanie Hawthorne
Mike Harrison @higheredactuary.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
A fascinating UK pensions job for someone but note the 11 April deadline! Worth sharing round the friends of pensions BlueSky? @stevewebb1.bsky.social @henrytapper.bsky.social @pensionsdave.bsky.social @prospectpension.bsky.social @stephawthorne.bsky.social @jonstapleton.bsky.social
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Buy The People's Friend (5 April edition -published by DC Thomson) now in superstores to see my monthly money page double page spread. This month's theme in one of Britain's oldest magazines (founded 155 years ago) is investing for beginners with expert input from Fidelity's Tom Stevenson.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Ballet dancers may get pensions at 40 to reflect ‘burdensome’ job www.thetimes.com/article/8949...
thetimes.com
Ballet dancers may get pensions at 40 to reflect ‘burdensome’ job
The Polish parliament is set to vote on a reform that allowing dancers to draw their state pension 20 years earlier than most workers because of ‘constant injuries’
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
www.howdengroupholdings.com/news/howden-...
howdengroupholdings.com
Howden to acquire Barnett Waddingham, creating one of the largest pensions and employee benefits consultancies in the UK
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Campaigners fight plan to abolish royal parks police - keep the Royal Parks Police who know the parks best and keep us safe www.thetimes.com/article/db22...
thetimes.com
Campaigners fight plan to abolish royal parks police
Subsuming the unit into the wider force is one ‘tough choice’ under consideration as the Metropolitan Police looks to balance the books
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
mol.im/a/14506873
mol.im
Ageist digital banking and bills are making life harder, say over-60s
Age UK said the shift to 'digital first' has created significant barriers for older people who are not comfortable with using technology.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
mol.im/a/14472667
mol.im
Why is teachers' pension scheme asking if I'm cohabiting or remarried?
TPS send me a letter every year asking if my circumstances have changed. If they do then I will stop receiving my widow's pension.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
mol.im/a/14482771
mol.im
the dot-com bubble peaked 25 years ago - investors can learn from it
When the bubble burst, the Nasdaq lost more than 75% of its gain on the back of profit taking and plummeting investor sentiment.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
mol.im/a/14485777 a £39k salary in 1997 is roughly equivalent to £100k today after inflation is taken into account. If the 40 percent threshold for higher rate tax had kept pace with inflation, 40 percent income tax would start at £77k. Ouch!
mol.im
The colossal tax raid behind why high earners say they don't feel rich
Since Tony Blair came to power, we have seen a radical redefinition of what it means to be a higher earner and a massive stealth tax raid.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
mol.im/a/14473651
mol.im
Cost of a first class stamp rising to £1.70 from 7 April
The price hikes come in the wake of plans to remove second class deliveries on Saturdays and reduce deliveries to two or three days a week.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
Top pension funds refuse to back defence industry
Aviva, Royal London and Nest among firms that restrict investment on ‘ethical’ grounds
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Today's much discussed advice gap will become a yawning chasm in future as the 10m auto-enrolled workers with DC pensions begin to retire in their hundreds of thousands without regulated advice. See my monthly FTAdviser column. #pensions @moorgatemermaid.bsky.social www.ftadviser.com/advice-guida...
ftadviser.com
‘Targeted support solution needed urgently in pensions’
It is nearly 10 years since the pensions freedoms revolution initiated by George Osborne, then chancellor of the exchequer, began in April 2015. Today, the huge range of pension choices can leave many...
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
mol.im/a/14450063
mol.im
JEFF PRESTRIDGE: No excuse for hold-ups over pension pot switches
Far too many companies drag their feet for all kinds of reasons - incompetence foremost among them - and it isn't good enough. At the end of the day, it's our money, not theirs.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
The Lisa question: what to do about the hippogriff of savings www.thetimes.com/article/2564...
thetimes.com
The Lisa question: what to do about the hippogriff of savings
The Lifetime Isa — ‘a mis-selling scandal waiting to happen’ — has banks running scared but it is growing in popularity among young people and the self-employed
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Buy the Mail on Sunday today to see my annuity piece. Thanks to a huge number of experts - for their input.
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Stephanie Hawthorne @stephawthorne.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Taxpayers could be on hook for generosity to miners - always a pension angle www.thetimes.com/article/ce80...
thetimes.com
Taxpayers could be on hook for generosity to miners
The pensions of former pitmen were dealt a huge boost by Rachel Reeves and Ed Miliband — largesse that could be painful for the exchequer’s coffers
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