I spend a lot of my working life in planes, trains and automobiles and what appears to be even more time in airport security queues, waiting at overcrowded boarding gates and platforms and stuck in endless traffic jams. 

I have to say I like a good jigsaw puzzle but there is nothing more frustrating when pieces are missing. George Osborne's announcement on the 29 September on changes to defined contributions death benefits turned out to be just like that.

The last few weeks have been somewhat manic in the financial press.

In November last year, the FCA asked Sipp operators to complete a (long) questionnaire to help them with their third thematic review. Among the 40 or so data items requested was the amount of Assets Under Administration (AUA).

It has been a tough couple of weeks for the SIPP industry.

The government has advanced its pension thinking this month with the enactment of The Finance Act 2014, guidance on allowing new retirees access to next year's pension freedoms and its response to the consultation on those freedoms.