MHM Pension Services began trading in September 2016 and we are very proud of the business we have built over the last 10 years. To mark the occasion, here’s a look back at some headlines over the last ten years and you might be pleased to know that they are not all about pensions!
2016
After a surprise result in the Brexit referendum, David Cameron stepped down and Theresa May became only the second female British Prime Minister. Meanwhile, across the pond, Hilary Clinton failed in her bid to become the first female US President, with Donald Trump preparing to take office. England’s Justin Rose won a gold medal in men’s golf at the Rio Olympics, with the sport making its return to the event after an absence of more than 100 years. And Leicester City defied odds of 5,000:1 to win the English Premier League.
2017
DJT was inaugurated as the 45th US President and Britain triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to formally begin the split from the EU. In West London, the fire at Grenfell Tower caused 72 deaths and sparked a nationwide review of building safety and cladding regulations. For film fans, the Oscars ceremony was marked by presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty erroneously announcing La La Land as the Best Picture winner before the mistake was corrected live on stage, and Moonlight was rightfully awarded the trophy.
Our big news of the year was that MHM became FCA-authorised for insurance broking services, enabling us to offer our clients life assurance, healthcare and other insurance benefits alongside pensions work.
2018
The royal wedding was the UK’s biggest TV event of the year as Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, generating a mix of intense international media fascination and varying levels of public indifference or criticism within the UK. Another big media story was the successful rescue of all 12 members of the “Wild Boars” youth football team and their assistant coach, after they became trapped underground in a flooded cave in Thailand. And, after a period of relatively strong returns, global equity markets suffered falls, largely attributed to US-China trade war escalations.
This was also the year that MHM Trustee Services began trading as a professional independent trustee firm. I suspect we did not appreciate at the time that this was going to be such a significant area of growth for our business – and for the UK pensions industry.
2019
Boris Johnson becomes Britain’s latest Prime Minister and wins an 80 seat majority as he vows to “get Brexit done”. The world-renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking passed away in March at the age of 76, prompting a surge in sales for his books including the best known “A Brief History of Time”. Cricket fans were treated to an amazing final in the ICC Men’s World Cup, as England eventually beat New Zealand following a tied match and a tied “super over”, with England declared the winners by the tightest of margins – the boundary countback rule.
2020
The global pandemic, COVID-19, was clearly the biggest story of the year, leading to millions of deaths across the world and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics (amongst many other things) for the first time in the event’s history. Key memories will include lockdowns, face masks, cheering for the NHS and nightly TV updates making household names of Sir Chris Whitty, Sir Patrick Vallance, Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam and Dr Jenny Harries. In the US Presidential election, the pandemic led to a huge increase in the number of postal votes, resulting in Joe Biden winning with over 81 million votes, the most ever cast for a US presidential candidate, while Donald Trump received over 74 million, the most ever for a sitting president.
Recognising the increased demand for professional independent trustees, a formal accreditation regime was introduced and, as you would expect, MHM’s client directors were amongst the first to achieve accreditation from the APPT.
2021
The roll-out of millions of COVID-19 vaccinations was one of the major events of the year and, after failed attempts at four previous Olympics, Tokyo saw Tom Daley finally win his first Olympic gold in the men’s synchronised 10m platform diving alongside Matty Lee. Another brief headline was the giant container ship Ever Given running aground and blocking the Suez Canal for six days, stranding an estimated $60 billion in total cargo leading to months of supply chain issues, including one MHM colleague’s new oven!
2022
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February was condemned by governments across North America and Europe as “unprovoked and unjustified”. US, UK, EU and NATO members quickly announced military, humanitarian and financial assistance for Ukraine. The invasion triggered severe market volatility in the first few days with big falls in stock markets and oil prices surging above $100 per barrel. The UK saw three prime ministers during the year, with Liz Truss resigning after only 49 days in the job; one of 15 Prime Ministers to have held office during the 70 year reign of Queen Elizabeth II, who died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on 8 September 2022.
2023
As the war in Ukraine continued, the scale, timing and nature of the attack on Israel by Hamas on 7 October shocked the world and US President Joe Biden described the attack as an act of terrorism, and reaffirmed US support for Israel. UK and EU leaders – amongst others – also condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with Israel. In other news, OpenAI had launched Chat GPT at the end of 2022 which was thought to have 100 million users by January 2023. Microsoft, Google and Anthropic launched their competing products during the year, which many of us may have used to read about Luke Donald leading Team Europe to victory over Team USA in the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome.
2024
As a keen golfer with a questionable handicap, Donald Trump was no doubt disappointed at the loss of the Ryder Cup in 2023, but he had better luck when he won a second, non-consecutive term as US President, defeating Kamala Harris after Joe Biden eventually pulled out of the race. He was soon congratulated by the UK’s new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, following Labour’s win in the General Election. Sporting events included the Paris Olympics, England getting to the final of the European Championships in Germany, Scotti Scheffler continuing to dominate the world of golf, winning his second green jacket and Luke Littler became a household name by reaching the final of the PDC world darts championship at the age of 16.
2025
Rory McIlroy completed the career Grand Slam by finally winning the US Masters but, surely, one of the biggest sporting stories of the year was Leeds United being promoted to the Premier League – finishing in a respectable 14th place! Donald Trump was also in the news again for various reasons, perhaps most significantly when he announced “tariff” as his favourite word and briefly sent global stock markets tumbling after “Liberation Day”, before making a quick recovery and delivering another year of strong returns from equities.
This year to date has continued many of the themes of the last 10 years, with 2026 seeing continued conflicts around the world, political turmoil leading to another change of Prime Minister in the UK, and a mix of opportunity and risk in the further development of AI.
In MHM news, Fiona is stepping back from her day-to-day role and will officially retire this year. No doubt she will continue to maintain a keen interest in the company’s future development and our dinner table conversations won’t change too much just yet!
Finally, a huge thank you to all our clients and business partners who have supported us during the last 10 years. We look forward to your continued support in the years ahead.
David & Fiona Hodgson
MHM Pension Services Ltd