Budget Newsletter

We are pleased to tell you that full details of yesterday's Budget and what it means to you can now be found on our website at www.argylefinancialgroup.co.uk

Plus ca change

In 1771 Richard Price published a book called Observations on Reversionary Payments which earned him the title of the founding father of actuarial science – this is the complex mathematical work used in all insurance companies as the basis for calculating premiums.

Unfortunately his book contained serious errors when he underestimated both death rates and life expectancies. As a result of these errors life insurance premiums were much higher than they needed to be and the profits of the insurance company who sponsored his work were also much higher than expected. That company was The Equitable Society.

The British government of the day also made use of Richard Price’s actuarial tables to calculate the annuity rates for its pensioners, but now the very same errors in his tables caused the government to make huge losses out of providing State pensions.

Sounds depressingly familiar some 235 years later doesn’t it!

www.argylefinancialgroup.co.uk