World Pension Plan (WPP) shift the goal posts…

The latest update from the admin of World Pension Plan (WPP) suggests that Reverse Pension Plans (RPP) will carry on from where they were in 2009, unconvincing and seemingly never ending.

I’m somewhat in two minds about this latest update. In brief the financial crisis of 2009 has meant that one of the original partners in the scheme has had to pull out because of differences in interest rates leading to a potential shortfall for the programme period. WPP do say that there is another financial partner lined up but as part of this agreement the number of policies needed to be purchased rises from the current 64,000 to 70,000.

This inevitably leads to further delay and raises once again the question surrounding the viability of Reverse Pension Plans. Already I’ve read commentary on both sides of the argument, one saying that this latest example proves yet again that RPP’s are a scam, the other taking a more optimistic view and saying that at least the admin is giving sound reasons for the change and this doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the opportunity.

Whichever view you take it doesn’t reflect well that more delay is being imposed and further funds sought. The reasons for the change may well be legitimate and if an RPP had already paid out I think the argument may well have been less vocal but it still remains that no RPP has completed successfully to date.

I have one policy with WPP and I’m not going to make any further purchases for myself. Others may see this as a golden opportunity to bolster the number of contracts they have as the admin reports latent demand does exist.

At the moment I believe there are better uses for my funds although I will be only too happy to be proved wrong.