March 2017

15Mar

Collapsing pensions will fuel America’s next financial crisis

Washington has a knack for ignoring long-term financial shortfalls and painting overly rosy scenarios about the future to make their numbers work in the here and now. Case in point: Donald Trump’s unrealistic projection that the U.S. economy will grow at 3% this year, when the latest GDP forecasts have actually been reduced to 1.8% by a number of economists. Then there is Social Security. Many politicians are just too intimidated, uninformed or complacent to tackle the unsustainability of Social Security...

March 15, 2017
News
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14Mar

US. Insurance Companies Taking Over Pensions

US insurers are buying corporate pension plans at a record clip as rising interest rates and all-time high stock-market values give companies the perfect excuse to offload them. “The movement is expected over time to transform the management of pensions for employers, which can slash their exposure to the volatility of the stock and bond markets, as well as for the insurance industry, which gains a source of growth at a time when some traditional businesses are slipping,” The Wall...

March 14, 2017
News
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14Mar

Iceland lifts foreign capital bans for Pension Funds to invest abroad

Iceland lifted its remaining capital curbs on Tuesday, ending more than eight years of controls on businesses and citizens put in place after its banks collapsed during the financial crisis. Icelandic lenders buckled under the weight of huge debts amassed over years of overseas expansion, spreading instability through other European nations and making the country a symbol of the excesses that helped to trigger the financial crash. The government started dismantling capital controls last year by easing restrictions for local residents...

March 14, 2017
News
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14Mar

Personalized Information as a Tool to Improve Pension Savings: Results from a Randomized Control Trial in Chile

By Olga Fuentes; Jeanne Lafortune; Julio Riutort; José Tessada Félix Villatoro We randomly offer to workers in Chile personalized versus generalized information about their pension savings and forecasted pension income. Personalized information increased the probability and amounts of voluntary contributions after one year without crowding-out other forms of savings. Personalization appears to be very important: individuals who overestimated their pension at the time of the intervention saved more. Thus, a person’s inability to understand how the pension system affects them...

March 14, 2017
Articles, Labor Market, Savings, , , ,
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14Mar

México. Consar guía a trabajadores para escoger renta vitalicia

Los trabajadores que estén a punto de solicitar su pensión recibirán un documento que les permitirá conocer qué aseguradora les conviene más, pues través de ella recibirán la renta vitalicia, es decir, el dinero que se les entregará cada mes, una vez que concluyan su vida laboral. La Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro (Consar), explicó que tanto el IMSS como el ISSSTE deberán poner a disposición de los trabajadores el “Documento Oferta” para que conozcan a...

March 14, 2017
Noticias
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14Mar

US. Lawmakers could end state pension plan for new employees

S.C. lawmakers eventually could walk away from the state’s pension plan. In passing a fix to the state’s underfunded pension system, the state Senate last week approved closing the current retirement system to new employees once it is made financially whole. But that could take about 30 years, officials estimate. Still, lawmakers are planning to explore changing the retirement options for state and local government employees, including teachers. A special panel already has agreed to look at who is eligible to...

March 14, 2017
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13Mar

Is There a Positive Incentive Effect from Privatizing Social Security: Evidence from Latin America

By Truman G. Packard (World Bank) There is increasing concern among policymakers that social security reforms that involve a transition to individual retirement savings accounts may exclude certain groups of workers from coverage against the risk of poverty in old age. While most public pay-as-you-go systems pool the risk of interrupted careers and periods of low earnings over the covered population, the reformed systems shift the burden of these risks to the individual. Adequate coverage under a system of individual...

March 13, 2017
Articles, Labor Market, Regulation, , ,
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13Mar

New Zealand. Raising the retirement age to 67 not enough to support ageing population

The very idea of changing the age of eligibility for NZ Superannuation from 65 to 67 has certainly caused all sorts of reactions, from support for a bold action, to complaints it didn't go far enough, to criticisms that it is unfair and inequitable. But we think these reactions miss the point. The official news release states the change is to "ensure the scheme remains affordable into the future." The implication is that if something doesn't change then there won't...

March 13, 2017
News
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13Mar

Canada pension funds to invest in Singapore, Indonesia warehouses

Canada's two biggest pension funds have agreed to partner with LOGOS, a real estate logistics operator, to invest in warehouses in Singapore and Indonesia, betting on demand from the rise of e-commerce and a burgeoning middle class in southeast Asia. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), the top pension fund of the country, said in a statement it will initially commit S$200 million ($142 million) for an about 48 percent stake in LOGOS Singapore Logistics Venture. It will also commit...

March 13, 2017
News
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13Mar

UK. Scots council pension funds ‘put at risk’ over fossil fuel investments

SCOTTISH councils are putting at risk their pension funds and face a possible legal challenge by failing to ditch investments in companies most responsible for climate change, according to a new report. While £1.7 billion is being invested in fossil fuel firms, just £234 million is being invested in renewable energy and social housing across all Scotland's council pension funds, according to a study by think tank Common Weal, Unison Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland. The study by think...

March 13, 2017
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