'If it's a duck it should quack'

The marketing of cash or money-market funds in Sipps and personal pensions has been called into question recently. Advisers need to review the money market funds they recommend to make sure clients get no nasty surprises

Now more than ever, pension savers - particularly those approaching retirement - need somewhere safe they can put their nest egg to shelter it from any disastrous last-minute falls in the stock market. The fact we are in the middle of a severe recession has probably heightened the furore surrounding Standard Life's Pension Sterling fund. Thankfully, Standard Life has now agreed to pay out £100m compensation to 97,000 investors. After intense pressure it was finally forced to admit some of its marketing literature - which stated the fund was 'invested wholly in cash' - was misleading, give...