December 2016 Credit Management magazine

CREDIT MANAGEMENT
CM
THE CICM MAGAZINE FOR CONSUMER AND
COMMERCIAL CREDIT PROFESSIONALS
the
Editor’s
column
LIES, DAMN LIES AND THE
TRUE COST OF PARENTHOOD
I
love looking at stats. As a journalist,
whenever you can support a story with a
decent piece of research or a large number
it has a power that words alone cannot
deliver. Indeed, as a challenge, pick up any
national newspaper today and within almost
every piece there will be a stat to give credence
to the angle the journalist wants to take.
In the last few weeks, I have been inundated
with numbers. At a recent CICM Think Tank,
Malcom Weir, Head of Restructuring and
Insolvency at the Pension Protection Fund,
told us that (as at August 2016) the total
compensation paid out by the fund to those
impacted by an insolvent employer that cannot
meet its pension obligations is c£2.7 billion
and it currently has some £28 billion of funds
under management. In much the same
period, some 6.723 million employees joined
a pension scheme under auto-enrolment.
Those TV ads with the dubious purple
monster appear to be working at last.
Elsewhere, the Money Charity published
its latest figures on credit and debt, many of
which will make your hair curl: outstanding
mortgage lending to the end of September
2016 stands at £1.315 trillion; growth in
private debt to UK adults has risen to £1,036
trillion; and 460 purchases were made in
the UK every second using debit and credit
cards. These and many more stats you will
find in our news pages in a new regular
section.
But the most alarming statistic of all is
the cost of bringing up a child from birth to
their 21st birthday. This figure, which had me
reaching for my heart pills, now stands at
almost £250,000. (It’s actually £231,843, but
what’s £18,157 between friends?). Happily, my
boys only have a year or two to go until I am
solvent again, although my wife appears to
have other plans.
So if you are a parent, grandparent or
doting uncle or aunt, think on. As you watch
your little darlings ripping open their presents
or pinching chocolates from the tree (or in my
case, nicking their father’s Peroni from the
garage), think what you could have done with
a quarter of a million quid. And if you have
more than one angel, how far half a million
pounds or more could have taken you.
Happy Christmas.
CM MAGAZINE | CONTACT AND PUBLISHING DETAILS: ISSN 0265-2099
Publisher
Chartered Institute of Credit Management
The Water Mill
Station Road
South Luffenham
OAKHAM
LE15 8NB
Telephone: 01780 722910
Fax: 01780 721333
Email: editorial@cicm.com
Website: www.cicm.com
CMM: www.creditmanagement.org.uk
Managing Editor
Sean Feast
Deputy Editor
Alex Simmons
Art Editor
Andrew Morris
Telephone: 01780 722910
Email: andrew.morris@cicm.com
Editorial Team
Tom Berger, Imogen Hart and Iona Yadallee
Advertising
Anthony Cave
Telephone: 0203 603 7934
Email: anthony.cave@cabbell.co.uk
Printers
Warners (Midlands) Plc
2016 subscriptions
UK: £85 per annum
Overseas: £110 per annum
Single copies: £10.00
View our digital version online at www.cicm.com Log on to the Members’
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Credit Management is distributed to the entire UK and international CICM
membership, as well as additional subscribers
Reproduction in whole or part is forbidden without specific permission. Opinions expressed in this
magazine do not, unless stated, reflect those of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. The Editor
reserves the right to abbreviate letters if necessary. The Institute is registered as a charity. The mark ‘Credit
Management’ is a registered trade mark of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management.
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December 2016 www.cicm.com
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