Watching the news it’s hard not feel empathy for workers in Visteon and elsewhere who have lost their jobs and almost certainly a huge chunk of their pensions. But as value is evaporating and the FTSE remains volatile, are we right to cease pension payments and avoid some of the heartache?

If you try it and you’ll probably be told something like, ‘You’re buying units at a lower price right now. When the market turns, these lower price units will have a potential benefit to your pension plan.’ Your financial advisor would call it ‘Pound Cost Averaging.’

Well, the house that Brown built is crumbling. People are hurting and businesses are under extreme pressure. Now that we all know this, what are we to do next? Join the Euro? Take to communism? Spend more and save less – or is it borrow less and save anywhere other than a bank?

As intolerably blame-ridden as Brown is (noticed how Blair has remained Teflon-protected throughout – luckily we’ve got Sir Fred to pin it ALL on, eh?), somehow I doubt voting for Cameron’s Blues is the magic wand we’d like. Regardless, he’s surely going to get a chance to show us all he’s not just the Yes Man we think he is in the next election when Labour will most likely lose by the same huge numbers that brought them into the driving seat in ‘97. Perhaps that’s when Pound Cost Averaging will pay off?

Photo credit: Mark Hillary