According to the recent (May 2012) Liverpool Victoria (LV=) State of Retirement Report, now in its fifth year, 6.25 million Britons aged over 50 (28%) have no pension plan in place and look set to rely on just the state pension in retirement – a huge increase on the 1.2 million people who live solely on the state pension today.

On 17th June, the Greek people return to the polls, following the uncertainty caused by the lack of a definite result in the May elections. What will happen in June? No-one knows.

There’s an old stock market adage which says “Sell in May and go away.” This year, “Sell before May and go as far away as possible” might have been more appropriate, as world stock markets tumbled throughout the month. Only one market – Malaysia – managed a gain in the month and several recorded double digit falls.

In each of the first three months of 2012, HM Treasury announced a specific new measure to tackle tax avoidance. The moves are all incorporated in the 2012 Finance Bill, published after the Budget at the end of March. In the bill, tackling over £1bn of tax avoidance and evasion is one of the five major areas of legislation.

It seems impossible to open a newspaper at the moment without reading yet another headline attacking pensions. ‘Interest rates keep annuities low.’ ‘Pension companies still overcharging.’ ‘Stock market falls wipe billions off pensions.’