Our content this month are as follows:-

• Comment Cards
• The Chameleon Chancellor
• Books We Have Read
• Quote of the Month

You may have noticed that comment cards are available in reception now and, as always, we value your feedback. We are constantly striving to improve the service we offer to clients and one of the ways we can do that is by seeking suggestions and observations from you. Over the next two months we will be sending comment cards to all clients and we would very much appreciate it if you would take the time to jot down your thoughts.

The card can be returned with or without names and in either case your comments will be taken extremely seriously.

If Gordon Brown ceases to be Chancellor sometime soon you can rely upon the pensions industry to hold a massive party. Those of you who caught Jeff Randall's television programme last week on pensions will realise that the Chancellor himself has contributed massively to what Randall called the pensions crisis. His tax grab at the beginning of his term of office continues to cost pension funds £5 billion a year collectively.

He has also presided over the "simplification" of pension funds, a process which has left most people in the business bemused at the twists and turns the Treasury has taken and it would appear continues to take. After the "will they, won't they" saga involving residential property, the latest U-turn involves "Alternatively Secured Pension", a method of postponing annuity purchase beyond the age of 75 and introduced from 6 April 2006. In his pre-budget statement in November Mr Brown has completely changed the rules and dashed the hopes of many who had hoped to allow pension funds to find their way to the next generation. So something he introduced himself has lasted less than five months.

We believe that people are entitled to some degree of certainty when planning their finances and are aware that many are confused by the options they have on retirement. We have produced a booklet "Pension Options at Retirement" which aims to guide you through the various routes you have for realising your pension and this is available on request to any reader of this newsletter.

Anyone who has visited Sydney, and most who have not, will be aware of the iconic status of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It dominates the skyline and features in every tourist film of Australia. Almost from the day the city was founded there was a desire to build a bridge linking Sydney Harbour and the so near but yet so far North Shore. The book "The Bridge" by Peter Lalor tells the story of how the bridge came to be built.

You will read about the many false dawns endured, the political shenanigans and the huge risks taken by the men who built the bridge, but most of all this book is a tribute to the English born engineer who conceived the structure we see now and persisted until it was built, Dr JJC Bradfield.

The book is readily available at bookstores and Amazon, but if you have any difficulty finding it please contact jayne@indexfundadvisors.co.uk.

"You may delay, but time will not." - Benjamin Franklin