February 2017

14Feb

Old-Age Income Support in the 21st Century: An International Perspective on Pension Systems and Reform (Trade and Development)

The past decade has brought an increasing recognition to the importance of pension systems to the economic stability of nations and the security of their aging populations. During this time, the World Bank has taken a leading role in addressing this challenge through its support for pension reforms around the world. 'Old-Age Income Support in the 21st Century' attempts to explain current policy thinking and update the World Bank's perspective on pension reform. The Bank has been involved in pension...

February 14, 2017
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14Feb

Will driverless cars change retirement? Only if wary seniors embrace them

For a decade and a half, Alex Mihailidis has been studying the junction of technology and aging. After years of examining the benefits of smart-home systems and artificial intelligence, the biomedical engineer has begun researching a new phenomenon: self-driving cars. Senior citizens, especially those with mobility challenges, are among the key demographics being floated to benefit from autonomous vehicles. “There’s been a lot of work on the technical side, in terms of the systems itself and how the car will operate,”...

February 14, 2017
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14Feb

Behavioral Interventions Helping Americans Budget Better and Save More / New report one of the most significant applications of behavioral economics in field of LMI financial decision-making

Common Cents, a financial research lab at Duke University and supported by MetLife Foundation, today unveiled its 2016 Annual Report. The report details findings from seven completed behavioral intervention programs and ongoing research begun in 2016. The work is part of a three-year effort to improve the financial well being of 1.8 million low-to-moderate income (LMI) households in America. Common Cents is one of the first to use social science field experiments within financial organizations for the purpose of gaining...

February 14, 2017
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12Feb

Retirement Advice in the Trump Era

A federal judge in Texas did President Trump a favor last week. It came in a decision in a case filed by the financial industry against the Labor Department to overturn an Obama-era regulation called the “fiduciary rule,” which requires financial advisers to put their clients’ interests first when giving advice and selling investments for retirement accounts. The judge, Barbara Lynn, called the plaintiffs’ objections “without merit,” “unpersuasive” and “at odds with market realities.” If Mr. Trump were smart, he’d see...

February 12, 2017
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12Feb

Low Returns, Longevity Mean Greater Retirement Savings Rate Needed

Investors facing inflated asset prices, and the lower expected future returns they imply, must accept the reality that they will need to save more to maintain their lifestyle in retirement, researchers conclude. In a research report, “Required Retirement Savings Rates Today,” written by David Blanchett, CFA [Chartered Financial Analyst], CFP [Certified Financial Planner], head of retirement research at Morningstar Investment Management LLC; Michael Finke, Ph.D., CFP, dean and chief academic officer at The American College of Financial Services, and Wade...

February 12, 2017
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12Feb

Watch What Indexing Does for Public Pensions

The unfunded liabilities of public pensions are out of control across the country. My state, Illinois, is the most severe case, with only 40 percent of those liabilities funded. Given the magnitude of the problem, and the political and legal obstacles to fixing it, it remains tempting to underplay the importance of straightforward financial changes that could put the funds on much more solid ground. Worsening the problems of public pension systems nationwide is that they have proved to be...

February 12, 2017
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12Feb

US court upholds Obama-era retirement advice rule

A US federal judge on Wednesday upheld an Obama-era rule designed to avoid conflicts of interests when brokers give retirement advice, in a possible setback for President Donald Trump's efforts to scale back government regulation. The stinging 81-page ruling comes just days after Trump ordered the Labor Department to review the "fiduciary" rule — a move widely interpreted as an effort to delay or kill the regulation. The decision by Chief Judge Barbara Lynn for the US District Court for the...

February 12, 2017
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10Feb

Why More Encore Entrepreneurs Would Help Aging In America

“You build companies the way other people bake cakes" is a compliment a fellow professor shared with me a few years back. Maybe it’s partly because I’m the daughter of an entrepreneur — the founder of a paint company (even though my dad wanted me to have a "secure job" by becoming a teacher and then a professor, which I’ve done). But I loved, and still love, the adventure of building companies. And I think there’s blue ocean water for...

February 10, 2017
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10Feb

Why Pensions Top To-Do List of Brazil’s President: QuickTake Q&A

Facing a make-or-break year to pull Brazil out of its worst recession in over a century, President Michel Temer is betting that reforming the nation’s pension system will restore public and investor confidence. It’s a task that proved too difficult for former presidents as popular as Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and as market-friendly as Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Both Temer and the pension reform are unpopular, but the president has widespread congressional support and argues that he is prioritizing...

February 10, 2017
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10Feb

Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes: Social Policy, Informality, and Economic Growth in Mexico

Despite various reform efforts, Mexico has experienced economic stability but little growth. Today more than half of all Mexican workers are employed informally, and one out of every four is poor. Good Intentions, Bad Outcomes argues that incoherent social programs significantly contribute to this state of affairs and it suggests reforms to improve the situation. Over the past decade, Mexico has channeled an increasing number of resources into subsidizing the creation of low-productivity, informal jobs. These social programs have...

February 10, 2017
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