August 2024

US. Nearly half of Americans projected to face funding shortfalls in retirement — Morningstar

Almost half of Americans (45%) will experience funding shortfalls in retirement, with single females most at risk, according to a new report from Morningstar Retirement. More than half of single females (55%) are expected to run short of money compared with 41% of couples and 40% of single males, the report found. The report also uncovered significant racial differences, with Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black Americans at greater risk of funding shortfalls than non-Hispanic whites and other non-Hispanics. More than 3 in...

UK. DWP data shows reduction in pension saver opt outs

The number of those opting out of workplace pensions has reduced in the last year, while the amount saved has not increased, data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has shown. The latest update for workplace pensions from the DWP showed eligible employee participation in workplace pension schemes has reached 88% - significantly higher than in 2012, when this was measured at 55%. The data also showed workplace pension participation remained broadly the same as that from 2019 to 2022. In...

Japan. Pension fund dumps ESG benchmark for passive investments

The Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), one of the largest managers of retirement savings in the world, has dumped the ESG index it had been using for its passive investments in previous years. In March, the fund said it has decided to change its benchmark from the MSCI Japan ESG Select Leaders Index to MSCI Nihonkabu ESG Select Leaders Index. This change means: the new benchmark excludes REIT there are 516 shares in the new benchmark compared to 239 shares in...

Reforma previsional en vilo: Comisión de Trabajo no vota idea de legislar pese a insistencia del Ejecutivo

La Comisión de Trabajo del Senado no votó en su sesión de hoy la idea de legislar la reforma de pensiones. Esto, a pesar de la insistencia del Ejecutivo y del énfasis que la ministra Jeannette Jara había puesto sobre la importancia de que ello ocurriera esta tarde. "Hoy día 31 de julio es un día indispensable para que la reforma previsional se vote en el Senado", había señalado la titular de la cartera antes de la sesión. Hoy se trataba,...

Panorama de las pensionadas en Colombia

Juliana Morad Acero Filósofa y abogada. Especialista en Derecho Laboral y en Derecho de la Seguridad Social y magistra en Políticas Públicas Johanna Gómez Castro Economista y magistra en Economía. ‘Project manager’ de Género y Economía, docente del Departamento de Economía de la Universidad Javeriana El sistema de pensiones es un pilar fundamental del bienestar económico y social de un país, ya que proporciona seguridad financiera a los individuos en su etapa de retiro. En el caso de Colombia, el sistema de pensiones...

Ministro de Hacienda de Chile advierte que nuevo retiro de las AFP elevaría tipo de cambio e inflación

El jefe de las arcas fiscales indicó que, a diferencia de cuando se concretaron los retiros durante la crisis de la pandemia, hoy la actividad económica ha retomado la senda del crecimiento, con un IPC que converge al rango meta (debajo del 4%). En las últimas horas, el ministro de Hacienda de Chile, Mario Marcel, detalló las secuelas que generaría en el país austral un nuevo retiro de fondos desde las AFP. La autoridad acudió al Congreso chileno para asistir a una...

Pension funds should protect our future, not destroy it

We live in a world where people’s movements for a healthy environment, with clean air to breathe and fresh water to drink, are vital and unstoppable. Sadly, fossil fuel companies are using all their might to continue extracting and polluting – harming communities, nature and the climate, all for the short-term financial gains of a few. But, as crises collide, calls for governments to hold corporations to account are growing, together with expectations that businesses must avoid harming people and...

The Time is Right for a National Retirement Savings Plan

Experts on retirement saving have plenty of assorted ideas for making 401(k) plans work better. But most agree on the top priority: get them into the hands of more people. Only about half of private-sector US workers are covered by an employer-sponsored retirement savings plan at any given time—and that figure hasn’t budged much over the years. The lost opportunity to save at the workplace translates into far too many people retiring with paltry savings or none at all, leaving them reliant...

UK. Savers warned of pensions impact on deforestation in Jane Goodall ad campaign

Jane Goodall and Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel have joined forces for a new ad campaign that warns UK savers of their pension investments’ hidden impact on global forests. The “Saving Jane” advert released on Wednesday shows an animated version of the zoologist saving up money in a pension pot to visit a tropical rainforest in Sumatra, Indonesia, only to discover the money was invested in companies destroying the natural world she wanted to protect. The film, which features a re-recording of...

Funding ratios of German corporate schemes hit unprecedented level

The funding ratios of pension schemes of German companies listed on the DAX and MDAX indices have climbed to an unprecedented level in the first half of this year, according to the latest Pension Finance Watch published by WTW. The funding ratio of pension plans of the largest firms listed on the DAX index improved to 84% in H1 2024, up from 79.1% at the end of 2023, WTW’s figures show. The funding ratio of pension plans of companies listed on...