August 2022

China should encourage private pension accounts

By Jiang Xueqing China should encourage individuals to open personal accounts and choose investment vehicles under a private pension plan rolled out by the country, and the plan should be better connected with basic old-age insurance and occupational pensions to complement the current guaranteed retirement income system, industry experts said. The nation unveiled the framework of a private pension plan earlier this year amid increasing efforts to address the needs of its rapidly aging population. At the end of last year,...

Elon Musk thinks the population will collapse. Demographers say it’s not happening

Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted, not for the first time, that "population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming." Climate change is a serious problem facing the planet and experts say it's difficult to compare problems. What is clear, demographers say, is that the global population is growing, despite declines in some parts of the world, and it shouldn't be collapsing any time soon -- even with birth rates at lower levels...

México. Afores deberán tener un Consejo Académico independiente: Consar

La Comisión Nacional del Sistema del Ahorro para el Retiro (Consar) busca implementar que las 10 administradoras de fondos para el retiro (afores), de manera gremial, deberán integrar un Consejo Académico independiente, de acuerdo con un anteproyecto en poder de la Comisión Nacional de Mejora Regulatoria (Conamer). El propósito del Consejo Académico es establecer y aprobar los contenidos, guías y herramientas de evaluación que permitan validar los conocimientos de los funcionarios de las afores en materia financiera, de derivados financieros...

Colombia. Directivo del Polo Democrático Jaime Dussán es el nuevo presidente de Colpensiones

En estas últimas semanas uno de los rumores que ha rondado más es acerca de quién asumirá la dirección de Colpensiones, un tema que ha sido muy cuestionado por la oposición e incluso por partidos de gobierno que manifestaron preocupación al oír el nombre de Jaime Dussan como posible director de la entidad adscrita al Ministerio del Trabajo. Jaime Dussan es un exsenador, expresidente de la Federación Nacional de Profesores FECODE, e importante directivo del Polo Democrático Alternativo, el polémico...

Panamá. Fondo del IVM al borde de la muerte

El año pasado la CSS hizo unas proyecciones que indicaban que las reservas del IVM se agotarán en el 2025 Alarmante. ‘No es un secreto que el fondo del Programa de Invalidez, Vejez y Muerte (IVM), en lo que se refiere al subsistema exclusivo de beneficio definido, tiene una sentencia a muerte sino se hace nada', advirtió el director de la Caja de Seguro Social (CSS), Enrique Lau Cortés. Explicó que la sentencia radica en que la cantidad de personas que...

Vanguard moves a third of $25.4 billion high-yield fund in-house

Vanguard Group has shifted management of one-third of the assets of its Vanguard High-Yield Corporate Fund to its internal fixed-income group from Wellington Management, which will continue to manage the remaining two-thirds. The High-Yield Corporate Fund had $25.4 billion in total net assets as of July 31, according to Vanguard's website. Wellington previously managed the entire fund. Jessica Schifalacqua, a spokeswoman for Vanguard, said by email that the fixed-income group's "long-term and disciplined approach is a natural complement to Wellington Management...

UK. Workers cut pension contributions amid cost of living crisis

Workers are leaving pension schemes or cutting their contributions, trade unions say, as the cost of living crisis prompts desperate measures that will reduce their retirement funds. The warning comes as UK inflation is predicted to hit 18.6 per cent, the highest rate among larger western economies, and as real wages fall at the fastest rate for at least two decades. The Trades Union Congress, the UK’s main movement for organised labour, said a growing number of its members in the...

Retirement Security: Recent Efforts by Other Countries to Expand Plan Coverage and Facilitate Savings

By GAO Ensuring retirement income security for the aging U.S. workforce presents many challenges. People are increasingly responsible for their retirement planning, and as they live longer, they may outlive their savings. We reviewed steps other countries have taken to promote retirement plan savings. International experts informed us of several efforts, including auto-enrollment—which can increase plan participation for eligible workers but may not reach others, such as part-time or self-employed workers. Our review of these and other efforts can inform U.S. policymakers...

Albania. Only wage increases through more productivity can save public pension system, Word Bank says

By Tirana Times The only way to guarantee that Albanians can rely on a public pension in the future is to increase wages through higher productivity, the World Bank says in a recent report. Albania is going through a major demographic transition with high rates of out-migration and the rapid aging of the population, which is making its social insurance system a huge burden on the economy as the contributor/beneficiary ratio continues to deteriorate. In Albania, expenditures in relation to GDP for...

US. Q2 Market Losses Hard on Self-Directed 401k Balances

Self-directed 401k investors’ balances declined with the market in the second quarter of 2022, according to the latest edition of the Charles Schwab SDBA Indicators Report, an industry-leading benchmark on retirement plan participant investment activity within self-directed brokerage accounts (SDBAs). The report, released today, found the average account balance across all participant accounts finished at $283,485 for the second quarter ending June 30, an 18.58% decrease year-over-year and a 14.62% decrease from the first quarter of 2022. The Q2 SDBA Indicators...