Only fools & horses

It’s sad to see a national institution like Readers Digest forced in to receivership by its final salary pension scheme liabilities, although encouraging to note that the receiver has had “significant interest” from potential purchasers so there may be some light at the end of the tunnel – although it may just be a rapidly approaching train!! This is however a salutary lesson in how significant pension liabilities can become and that no business, no matter how well known, is immune to having to deal with their promises. It reminds me a bit of the old Only Fools and Horses episode where they were asked to take down a chandelier. The lesson was that no matter how much planning was involved and how much you try to focus on the details like sales, budgeting, cashflow etc, missing, or paying less attention to, a significant factor like the creeping levels of pension deficit can be catastrophic.