March 2025

Women in Hong Kong face huge retirement income shortfall, Fidelity study shows

For nearly half the working women in Hong Kong, their main concern is insufficient income after retiring, according to one of the largest managers of the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), the city’s compulsory retirement scheme. Women in Hong Kong generally retire earlier than men at 62 and expect to incur an average monthly expense of HK$24,235 (US$3,120) in retirement, according to Fidelity International’s Asia-Pacific Investor Study released on Thursday, ahead of International Women’s Day on Saturday. The amount accounts for nearly 70 per...

UK. Pensions: New warning to women who risk running out of money

Women have been issued a pension warning as new research revealed they risk emptying their pension pots 14 years too soon. The research, released ahead of International Women’s Day (Saturday March 8) indicated that, based on current pension withdrawal rates, women could empty their private pension savings by the age of 73. Legal & General (L&G), which published the research, said that, with the average life expectancy of a 60-year-old woman in the UK sitting at 87, some female retirees could be left with a...

The U.S. has a record low fertility rate. Is that good news or bad news? It’s complicated.

The U.S. fertility rate — the average number of children each woman gives birth to — fell 22% between 1990 and 2023, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). It’s not a new trend; the decline began in 2007, just ahead of the 2008 recession. Coupled with the rapidly aging American population, the falling fertility rate has long made policymakers nervous about draining Social Security funds and generally causing...

Chile. TC declara inadmisible recurso presentado por diputados opositores contra reforma de pensiones

El Tribunal Constitucional (TC) declaró inadmisible el recurso presentado en contra de la aprobada reforma de pensiones, el cual fue presentado por diputados de oposición. Recordemos que los congresistas acusaron que la iniciativa transgrede los derechos de los afiliados al sistema previsional, ya que -según aseguraron- se impone nuevas reglas sin consentimiento de las partes contratantes. La respuesta del TC fue dada a conocer por la ministra del Interior y Seguridad Pública, Carolina Tohá, quien sostuvo que “hace poquito se ha sabido...

FMI compromete al Gobierno salvadoreño a reformar sistema de pensiones en 2026

El Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI) informó que se adoptaría en febrero del próximo año una reforma al sistema de pensiones que contendrá “costos fiscales”, así lo anunció el FMI luego de concretarse el acuerdo entre El Salvador para desembolsar aproximadamente $1,400 millones. El directorio ejecutivo del FMI aprobó un acuerdo de 40 meses en el marco del Servicio Ampliado del Fondo (SAF) por unos 1,400 millones para apoyar las reformas económicas del Gobierno. El primer desembolso es de alrededor de...

More Than Half of U.S. Households Have Retirement Accounts, CRS Says

More than half of U.S. households had retirement accounts in a just-released study by the Congressional Research Service. That’s 54%, to be exact, according to the CRS in “Distribution of Retirement Account Balances: Analysis of the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances,” released on Feb. 26, 2025. The CRS defines “retirement account” for purposes of this study as defined contribution (DC) plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). It recognizes, however, that U.S. households have other sources of income during retirement as...

The European country tearing up its pensions – and why Britain should take note

Apathy rules supreme in workplace pensions. Almost 30 million people work in the UK’s private sector and for many, a pension contribution is just another line on the monthly payslip. It’s precisely this mindset that government ministers were counting on when they introduced auto-enrolment in 2012, forcing employers into offering workplace pensions but leaving employees with the final decision. The hunch proved to be well-founded. Although workers can opt out at any time, very few have. Within a decade, the proportion with a workplace...

‘Trump can’t tell people where to invest their money’

One of Donald Trump’s first acts on returning to the White House was to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, and he has long railed against environmental, social and governance investment and “woke capitalism”, having rolled back more than 100 environmental rules and policies in his first term. So there is an understandable fear that Trump’s stance will slow momentum towards meeting net-zero targets and reduce sustainable investment around the world. Multiple financial institutions have withdrawn from net-zero alliances set...

Pooled pension innovations offer new structures for retirement income

This article is part of a new Globe Advisor series, Pensions Unpacked, exploring how workplace pensions fit into retirement strategies, and the technical details and decisions that come with the plans. The steady decline of defined-benefit (DB) pension plans has led to the creation of new pension models aimed at helping employees save money for retirement and employers seeking to attract and retain staff. The newer plans fall into the broad category of pooled pensions. Contributors combine their savings to benefit...

US Public Pension Funds Increased Allocations to Fixed Income in 2024

US public pension funds are raising their fixed-income allocations, but with equities still holding the largest share of portfolios, US small- and mid-cap stocks could present an opportunity, according to the National Conference on Public Employees Retirement System (NCPERS). Data from 201 US public pension funds revealed that while allocations to other asset classes declined in the first half of 2024, fixed-income investments saw a sharp increase. Equities remained the largest part of pension portfolios, averaging a 41.5% allocation, though this was down...