Is 'buy now, pay later' a fairer way to charge for funds?

BUY NOW, PAY LATER

Douglas Thursby-Pelham, partner at Vinculum, on how charging structures based only on performance will boost consumer confidence in investing.

Products perceived to be overpriced or unfairly priced are less likely to be bought than products that are perceived to be fairly priced. Remarkably, this unremarkable piece of near-tautology seems to go largely overlooked in the debate on costs, charges and fees that continues to rage post-Retail Distribution Review (RDR). Yet it is fundamental. Two simple, inter-related facts bear this out: 1. The UK’s household savings ratio is less than 7%, whereas the European ratios are typically 11% to 15%. In other words, Britons save considerably less than most of the rest of Europe. 2....