Tom Selby is AJ Bell's Director of Public Policy. He joined the company in 2016 as a Senior Analyst before becoming Head of Retirement Policy. He has a degree in Economics from Newcastle University.
Following his degree, Tom worked for seven years as a journalist specialising in pensions and retirement. He spent almost six years at a leading adviser trade magazine, Money Marketing, initially as a pensions reporter before becoming Head of News in 2014. He has won multiple awards for his role as a financial journalist, and was more recently nominated for Expert of the Year at the 2023 Headlinemoney Awards.
Tom is heavily involved with the PR and external communications teams at AJ Bell. His current role involves direct engagement with senior policy makers in Government and regulators. He also sits on the industry working group for the joint review of advice and guidance boundaries being conducted by the FCA and the Treasury. In the past, Tom has successfully campaigned for a number of consumer-focused reforms, including banning pension cold-calling and increasing pension allowances, and he is passionate about improving outcomes for savers and retirees.
Tom is regularly quoted in national print and broadcast media, including appearances on a weekly BBC Radio London personal finance slot. He has also appeared multiple times on BBC’s MoneyBox as an expert, as well as BBC Radio, BBC News, Sky News and LBC.
26 February 2020
Self-employed pensions: Making retirement work for youThe UK is in the midst of an entrepreneurial boom. The level of self-employment surged from 3.8 million in 2008 to almost 5 million today, according to the Office for National Statistics.
While this trend is among the defining characteristics of the post-financial crisis economic recovery, it also presents a retirement challenge. Because, as the...
18 February 2020
Is the Government about to scrap higher-rate pension tax relief?You may have read reports recently suggesting the Government is considering reforms to pension tax relief at the Budget on 11th March. We're here to separate pension fact from fiction.
How does pension tax relief work at the moment?
When you pay money into a pension it is free from income tax, with total annual contributions (including tax...
9 December 2019
Election watch: How the major parties shape up for your financesThis election has seen an unprecedented focus on policies aimed squarely at pensioners, with all parties keen to bolster support ahead of polling day on 12th December.
Pensions are arguably the big story of the Labour campaign, with the party committing £58 billion in compensation to the WASPI women and freezing proposed increases in the state...
19 November 2019
Government proposes emergency NHS pension tax fix but does it risk creating more problems?The dog’s breakfast that is the annual allowance tax taper is getting more and more ridiculous by the day. It is ludicrous that the UK’s mind-bogglingly complex pension tax system is now causing significant capacity issues for the NHS – effectively putting people’s lives at risk as senior consultants refuse shifts to avoid huge tax bills.
In...
11 November 2019
Average pension scam victims lose 22 years of savings in just 24 hoursHubris and trusting the ‘advice’ of strangers are proving to be the undoing of scam victims. This is a recipe for disaster as fraudsters prey on the good nature of hard-working savers.
The results of scams are often heartbreaking, with thousands of people losing pensions they have worked their entire lives to diligently build up. In many cases...
30 October 2019
How the general election could affect people’s financesWith the UK heading towards a general election on 12 December, Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at AJ Bell and Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, look at how the outcome could affect people’s personal finances in some key areas.
Income tax
Boris Johnson pledged a number of changes to personal finances in his campaign to be elected prime...
15 October 2019
Five pension problems the Treasury needs to focus onThe Treasury has confirmed the 2019 Budget setting out this Government’s fiscal agenda is scheduled for 6 November.
While there is no guarantee this administration will actually survive that long, there are various issues demanding Chancellor Sajid Javid’s attention.
1. Scrap the pension tax taperThe strains being placed on the NHS as a result of...
9 October 2019
How Monday’s Queen’s Speech could affect personal financesAssuming we finally get a Queen’s Speech on Monday, any impact on our personal finances is likely to come via a Pensions Bill setting out the Government’s legislative priorities for savers and those already in retirement.
What are some of the key areas a Pensions Bill could focus on?
The Government wants to introduce the principles of Open...
24 July 2019
Boris Johnson to become UK Prime Minister: what it could mean for people's financesBoris Johnson will become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom tomorrow after winning the Conservative leadership contest.
While the former Mayor of London faces one pretty obvious challenge in the short-term, he has also made a number of campaign pledges aimed, unsurprisingly, at core Tory voters.
So how could these proposals affect people’s...
28 June 2019
What could the new Prime Minister have in store for our personal finances?In less than a month either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt will be chosen by 160,000 Conservative Party members as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Both candidates have made pledges as part of their respective leadership campaigns which voters will expect them to fulfil. They will also be tied to the Conservative manifesto Theresa May was...
