"Experts abound in the pensions world and, like football experts, they too are never shy of an opinion," says Spence & Partners' Kevin Burge as he discusses conflicting specialist advice.

I, along with many I suspect, am watching the World Cup and personally cheering for England more in blind faith than any actual expectation of a real result. It was a good performance (against Italy), but the wrong result and I wonder if performance should be sacrificed for a result in the next game.

This brings me neatly onto experts and of course, whichever newspaper you may read, TV or radio station you may listen to, everyone has an opinion and of course each person feels that their view is right. How does a manager ignore all of them and make his own mind up knowing that he will be cheered by some, muttered at by others and downright vilified by a few?

Experts abound in the pensions world and, like football experts, they too are never shy of an opinion - so how do you decide which one is right or indeed wrong, or maybe just has an element of truth about it? The short answer is that you can't and as such you have to make your mind up, but if the experts can't agree, then how can anyone be truly confident?

Now regular readers (or should that be reader?!) will know this is not the first time that I have been banging this particular drum, and in my humble opinion it is truer than ever. How will someone know whether to join a collective defined contribution (DC) scheme or just a plain old fashioned one? Whether they should trust an 'expert' to invest their hard-earned money for them or do it themselves (maybe the old argument comes to the forefront - better to only have yourself to blame rather than someone else if it all goes wrong). Should one take an annuity at retirement or drawdown or take all the cash or a combination, and again will they be reassured that an 'expert' will get it right because it is pretty sure that every 'expert' will have a different view?

There should always be choice, but it is also true that a settled team always does better and the 'pensions team' has been hurtling towards successive relegations. Pensions needs to settle and allow a period of time with little or no tinkering to the majority of the team. Maybe then the experts could start to agree a little more often.

Now then Mr Hodgson, I would play a 4-3-3 system with Rooney in the middle...

Written by Kevin Burge, relationship manager, Spence & Partners

Kevin_Burge@spenceandpartners.co.uk