March 2023

I chair the investment committee of America’s second-largest pension fund. Here’s why savvy investors back the SEC’s proposed ESG disclosure rules

As the nation deals with floods, fires, and other extreme weather events fueled by climate change, it may come as a surprise that relatively little is known about one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions: publicly held companies. That is because there are no federal rules requiring these major drivers of the nation’s economy to disclose critical information about the impact of climate on their businesses. With more than half of U.S. households invested in the stock market,...

The Influence of Financial Literacy on Retirement Planning in South Africa

By Nyasha Tapiwa Dhlembeu, Mamekwa Katlego Kekana & Mpinda Freddy Mvita Background: A shift in the retirement planning and pensions landscape has created an enormous responsibility for individuals to plan for their retirement provision actively. Very few South Africans reach the average retirement age of 65 years with sufficient funds to sustain themselves during their retirement. Purpose/objective: Using secondary data from the 2011 South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), this study aims to examine the influence financial literacy has on the...

Nigeria. Pension Fund Assets Increase By ₦568.33b – PenCom Boss

It appears that are days of enjoyment waiting Nigerian pensioners and the stories of months of wait pay will be over. The pension fund in Nigeria is real growing. There is something that the Director-General (DG) of Pension Commission Aisha Dahir-Umar, wants you to know. It is about the pensioners money that is now available. He says the Pension Fund Assets under Management (AuM) increased by ₦568.33 billion from ₦14.42 trillion as at September 30 to ₦14.99 trillion as at December...

US. Could companies be persuaded to bring back pensions?

There’s a certain type of employer-sponsored retirement plan that’s the stuff of legends. They’re called traditional defined benefit pension plans, meaning employees get a fixed amount of money upon retirement, usually shouldered by the company. While they’ve since been replaced in 401(k) plans in almost every company, there’s an argument to be made that today’s tight labor market could offer companies that bring back pensions an edge in attracting talent. Marketplace senior economics contributor Chris Farrell recently spoke with Marketplace’s...

Pay-as-They-Get-In: Attitudes Towards Migrants and Pension Systems

By Tito Boeri, Matteo Gamalerio, Massimo Morelli & Margherita Negri We study whether a better knowledge of the functioning of pay-as-you-go pension systems and recent demographic trends in the hosting country affects natives' attitudes towards immigration. In two online experiments in Italy and Spain, we randomly treated participants with a video explaining how, in pay-as-you-go pension systems, the payment of current pensions depends on the contributions paid by current workers. The video also explains that the ratio between the number of...

A Leveraged Gender Gap: The Combined Effect of Longevity Risk (Mis)-Perception and Financial Risk-Taking

By Giovanna Apicella & Enrico G. De Giorgi Financial risk and longevity risk are the main risks affecting pension income. This paper analyses gender differences related to how financial risk taking and survival expectations are correlated. We analyse data from the “Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe” (SHARE) database and find a significant gender gap in self-assessed risk tolerance, consistently with previous literature. Moreover, we show that individuals with realistic survival expectations (i.e., survival expectations that are close...

México. El 31.6% de cuentas de Afore pertenecen a las mujeres, cifra mucho menor a la de los hombres

En el marco del Día Internacional de la Mujer, la Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro (Consar) recordó cuál es el porcentaje que ocupan las mujeres respecto al registro de cuentas de Afore que hay en la actualidad y el saldo promedio de ahorro en sus cuentas individuales. Y es que de las 72 millones 513 mil 800 cuentas individuales de las Administradoras de Fondos para el Retiro (Afore) que hay registradas en la actualidad, el 31.6...

Colombia. Reforma pensional: ministra del Trabajo propone dar a las mujeres un bono pensional de 50 semanas por cada hijo

En el Día Internacional de la Mujer, la ministra del Trabajo, Gloria Inés Ramírez, propuso reconocer 50 semanas de cotización por cada hijo o hija criado como compensación a las labores de cuidado no remunerado que realizan las mujeres. “Estamos trabajando en la estrategia dentro de la reforma pensional, conocida como un sistema de la compensación, lo que significa que haya una contraprestación para las mujeres por cada hijo criado. Además, dispondrán de 50 semanas por hijo como compensación a...

México. Afores cuentan con mecanismos para evitar greenwashing: Amafore

Las inversiones de las administradoras de fondos para el retiro (afores) están virando hacia los criterios Ambientales, Sociales y de Gobernanza (ASG) y con ello también se debe de cuidar meticulosamente que no inviertan el dinero de los trabajadores en esquemas de greenwashing. El greenwashing es cuando empresas o gobiernos promueven una imagen de conciencia ecológica, pero en realidad no hacen nada por cumplir lo que proponen. Álvaro Meléndez, vicepresidente técnico de la Asociación Mexicana de Afores (Amafore), comentó a este...

El Congreso chileno da un fuerte golpe a Boric con el rechazo de su reforma tributaria

La Cámara de Diputados y Diputadas ha rechazado este miércoles la reforma tributaria del Gobierno de Gabriel Boric. El Ejecutivo necesitaba 74 votos para superar la primera valla legislativa, pero consiguió 73 apoyos, mientras los rechazos llegaron a 71 y las abstenciones a tres. Este fracaso supone un duro golpe para la Administración izquierdista, porque la reforma tributaria representa un pilar fundamental para financiar el programa con el que Boric asumió en marzo de 2022. La reforma pretende recaudar...