October 2019

Perú. Hipoteca inversa y pensiones

Este sistema se crea por ley en marzo de 2018 y se reglamenta en septiembre del mismo año, pero, solamente la semana pasada, la Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS) establece el sistema operativo y contable para esta alternativa financiera. El objetivo es generar ingresos a los adultos mayores, cuya pensión sea insuficiente para satisfacer sus necesidades y que no cuenten con otros recursos. Una persona o sociedad conyugal, propietaria de un inmueble que esté libre de gravámenes,...

France. Macron vows to push pension reform ‘to the end’ despite strikes

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed no let up in his drive to implement far-reaching pension reforms despite a looming winter of strikes by unions angered by the plan, in an interview broadcast on Monday. Macron told RTL radio that there would be "no complacency or weakness" in pushing through the changes, even if it risked making him more unpopular. "I want this reform to go to the end, I think it is necessary for the country so I will...

Thailand. Pensions need drastic reform

Becoming an aged society is a big challenge for Thailand, especially when it comes to welfare provided by existing pension schemes. According to the United Nations, a country with over 10% of its population aged 60 and older is an ageing society. When this group increases to over 20%, the country becomes classified as an aged society. In Thailand, as of 2015, 10.5 million people, or 16.2% of the 65.2 million population, were aged over 60. Siam Commercial Bank...

UK. Retirement income gender gap is the biggest in a decade

At first glance, the latest numbers suggest we’re all finally winning the battle for a comfortable old age. Official figures out this week from the Department for Work and Pensions and the Pension Regulator show equal numbers of men and women are now saving into a workplace pension. Even the number of employees asking to join who don’t automatically qualify – often women in part-time roles who don’t earn enough – has increased dramatically. Commenting on the figures, Guy...

Chile president lifts state of emergency, protests continue

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Monday ended a state of emergency that lasted more than a week amid mass protests, but demonstrations continued nonetheless. The decision to lift the decree at midnight, just two days after more than a million people took to the country''s streets demanding economic and political change, comes after the equally unpopular week-long nighttime curfews ended on Saturday. Authorities imposed both the state of emergency and curfews last weekend after Chile was rocked by its...

UK. MPs call for end to freeze on State pension for half a million expats living outside of Europe

Pension payments to British expats living in Europe will rise in line with inflation But the same does not apply to payments for pensioners living further afield More than 40 MPs are calling on the Government to overturn the move More than 40 MPs are calling on the Government to overturn an enduring injustice affecting State pension payments to half a million UK nationals living overseas. The cross-party group is sending an open letter to Therese Coffey, the Secretary...

Don’t Save for Retirement: A Millennial’s Guide to Financial Freedom

By Daniel Ameduri Baby boomers are always giving millennials advice on the importance of saving for retirement. But Daniel Ameduri says that the results are in for the retirement experiment of the last 75 years and they’re really bad. When he was twenty-seven years old, Daniel was on the brink of bankruptcy. A decade later, he’s a multi-millionaire, having taught himself about economics, investing, and other money matters that he never learned at school or at home. The expert...

Essentials of Pension Economics

By Sergio Nisticò This Palgrave Pivot provides a concise overview of pension systems which, whether paid by governments or by private companies, are the sole source of income for millions of people around the world. By 2050, two billion elderly people will have to be ensured some form of income while, at the same time, the prospect facing younger generations is of a gloomy future. This book breaks down the jargon, investigates different designs and analyses these designs'...

Measuring Household Wealth in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics: The Role of Retirement Assets

By Daniel Cooper, Karen E. Dynan, Hannah Rhodenhiser While the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) has much to offer researchers studying household behavior, one limitation is that its summary measure of wealth is not as broad as those of other commonly used surveys, such as the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), because it does not include the value of defined-contribution (DC) pensions. This paper describes the pension data available in the PSID and shows how they can be...

Social Pensions and Market Values: A Conflict?

By Quentin Detienne, Elmar Schmidt Social occupational pension schemes, i.e. compulsory pension schemes that are the result of collective bargaining, fulfil an important social function. At the same time, they seem to conflict with some fundamental single market tenets, such as the European Union (EU) Single Market’s four fundamental freedoms and competition law principles. In this respect, occupational pension schemes in the Member States seem to embody the inherent tensions contained within the EU’s social market economy: a clash...