February 2019

13Feb

US. Police Pension Backs Morgan Creek’s plans to invest in cryptocurrency

Police officers and other state employees in Virginia’s Fairfax County will be looking forward to retirement with potential dividends from an unusual source: bitcoin. Two separate pension funds that collectively manage $5.1 billion in assets for the state’s police force and other employees have joined a $40 million investment in the Morgan Creek Blockchain Opportunities Fund, which in addition to backing some of the best-known startups in the space, plans to invest in cryptocurrency. Already, a portion of the...

February 13, 2019
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13Feb

UK. ‘Fraudster families’ target pension savers

Organised crime groups led by married couples or families are running pension scams worth millions of pounds. The ‘fraudster families’ often hire rogue financial experts to run the large-scale scams on their behalf. Victims of these scams lost an average of £91,000 each to fraudsters in 2017 but some people have lost much more. They reported receiving cold-calls, offers of free pension reviews and promises that they would get high rates of return – which are all key warning...

February 13, 2019
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13Feb

Nigeria. Between NUPENCO and PenCom’s Transfer Window

The recent approval of operational license for Nigerian University Pension Management Company (NUPENCO), a new Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) that will oversee the management of pension funds contributed by university workers, by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) has raised a lot of questions on the modus operandi of the 15- year old contributory pension scheme(CPS) in Nigeria. The questions are coming from stakeholders who argued that before now, many contributors had been agitating to migrate from their pension fund...

February 13, 2019
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13Feb

US. Bosses, Beware! You’re Legally at Risk Over High 401(k) Plan Fees

Yes, CEOs have a fiduciary responsibility to their employees, and if they fail to fulfill it, the employees can sue. And win. A good 401(k) plan can be an amazing tool for helping to build your retirement nest egg. Most companies offer at least some level of employer match, and the tax deferral is a great perk. But if your 401(k) options come larded with excessive fees, it's a whole different story. In this segment from the Motley Fool...

February 13, 2019
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13Feb

Australia. Pensioners set for income threshold boost

Draft laws allowing pensioners to earn $300 a fortnight - up from $250 - without it hurting their welfare payments passed the first green light of parliament. Pensioners will soon be able to earn $300 a fortnight without it hurting their welfare payments under draft laws which passed the first hurdle of parliament. The proposal cleared the lower house alongside two other measures - means testing pooled-retirement-income products and allowing more older Australians to access the pension loan scheme...

February 13, 2019
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12Feb

España ha incrementado un 57% el gasto en pensiones desde 2008

Los Presupuestos Generales del Estado de 2019 se la juegan hoy en el Congreso de los Diputados. Los partidos debatirán las enmiendas a la totalidad presentadas por Partido Popular, Ciudadanos, PDeCat y ERC y será mañana cuando se voten en un ambiente de división de las fuerzas constitucionalistas tras la fallida negociación entre La Moncloa y el Govern y la amenaza de elecciones generales en primavera. Un pulso que deja a los 84 diputados socialistas en una posición muy...

February 12, 2019
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12Feb

Colombia. Las cesantías son para gastárselas, pero…

Es claro que las cesantías es dinero de todos los trabaja-dores y que cada quien se las gasta como quiera, pero debe haber un principio de seguridad Esta semana se termina la temporada de las cesantías que obliga a los empresarios a pagar más $5,5 billones a sus trabajadores como una suerte de blindaje para cuando lleguen las épocas de vacas flacas. La idea inicial de la ley es que todo trabajador tuviese unos recursos que le permitan sobrevivir...

February 12, 2019
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12Feb

In Nicaragua, steep pension cuts, tax increases could plunge country into recession

Last April, news of these measures led to protests and a government crackdown that led to hundreds of deaths and over fifty thousand leaving the country. Nicaraguans revolted last April when the government announced it was raising payroll taxes and cutting retirement benefits to bolster a social security program hemorrhaging money. The unrest led authorities to quickly withdraw the measure, but as the protests boiled for months and broadened into demands that President Daniel Ortega leave office, security forces...

February 12, 2019
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12Feb

Are businesses matching green efforts with climate-safe staff pensions?

Only a small number of FTSE 100 firms' pension schemes have shifted their investment approach to take account of climate-related risks, ShareAction research finds The retirement savings of hundreds of thousands of workers could be "highly exposed" to climate-related risks, with some of the UK's biggest company pension schemes sticking with investment strategies that fail to address exposure to carbon intensive assets. That is the key conclusion from research by ShareAction published today which warns companies are failing to...

February 12, 2019
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12Feb

First U.S. Pension Funds Take the Plunge on Crypto Investing

Morgan Creek Digital has scored what it says is probably the first investment in the crypto asset universe from a U.S. pension fund. Two pension plans in Fairfax County, Virginia are anchor investors in a new $40 million venture-capital fund, according to a statement from the company. Other investors include an insurance company, a university endowment and a private foundation, said Morgan Creek Digital founder Anthony Pompliano, who declined to provide further details. Many institutional investors, which crypto enthusiasts...

February 12, 2019
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