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.
Like many, I was expecting a short announcement during the Autumn Statement followed thereafter by the publication of pages of detail explaining the new pension death tax rules. I certainly wasn't expecting to read about it on my BBC News app on the Sunday night before the Conservative Party conference.
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 best part of two years is a long time to wait for the result of a consultation, and you would expect to see some progress after that sort of delay.
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.
I don't know about you but I'm becoming rather disillusioned with the SIPP market and the bad news stories that seem to be more regular and more alarming.
